Ad-hoc | 4 April 2000 08:01

Ad hoc-Service: Dürr AG Schenck majority stak

Ad-hoc announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Dürr AG takes over technology and engineering group Carl Schenck AG o Significant growth and earnings potentials o Leading supplier of production systems for automobile manufacturing Stuttgart, 04.04.2000. Dürr and Schenck would like to make the following announcement: The technology group Dürr AG, Stuttgart has acquired a majority stake of 76.4% of the equity capital of Carl Schenck AG, Darmstadt, the worldwide leading supplier of automation, diagnostic and test systems. As announced before, for a full acquisition, Dürr will soon submit a definite purchase offer for external shareholders. Dürr had already concluded a contract at the end of October 1999 with Harald Quandt Beteiligungsverwaltung, Bad Homburg for the acquisition of a 76.4% stake. However, as this package still included 51.4% of the equity capital owned by AGIV AG, Frankfurt, the sale transaction still had to be approved by the decision- making bodies of AGIV. Now the approval of the AGIV supervisory board and the AGIV shareholders’ meeting are available as well as the necessary approvals required from the competition authorities. Thanks to the acquisition Dürr will become one of the world’s leading suppliers of production systems for the automotive industry and will be able to develop further growth and earnings potentials in other industrial branches. With its three core areas of business, Carl Schenck AG holds leading market and technology positions in test and automation systems, in balancing and diagnostics systems and in process systems. By far the most important purchasers of Schenck products and services are enterprises in the automotive industry with its component suppliers. In particular in the demanding market segment of final vehicle assembly, including test systems, where Dürr and Schenck have already worked together closely in the past, the joint market position can be considerably expanded. In the business year 1998, Schenck, with its approx. 3500 employees, achieved sales of EUR 453 m and income before interest and taxes of EUR 20.9 m. For the business year 1999 Schenck is expecting a further improvement of the key figures; final figures will be published at the end of April. The Dürr Group, with operations in more than 20 countries, was able to achieve a new all-time high in 1999e with sales totaling EUR 1,179 m. Against the backdrop of a good project situation in the core business area, and its new activities with Schenck and in the service sector, Dürr is expecting significant increases in growth and earnings for the business year 2000. Final figures will be announced on April 17 at the financial press conference. A conference with analysts will take place on April 18, 2000 in Frankfurt. Please contact Dürr Corporate Communication Gerhard Zaiss Tel.: 00 49 – 711 – 136 10 95 Fax.: 00 49 – 711136 17 16 E-Mail:corpcom@durr.com End of Message