Corporate | 20 August 2007 14:26
ARAGON AG / Strategic Company Decision/Strategic Company Decision Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Only founded by the end of 2005 Aragon’s subsidiary, biw Bank for Investments and Wertpapiere (securities and bonds) AG, in which Aragon holds 75% (minus 1 share) and banking software specialists XCOM AG the remaining 25% (plus 1 share) of the shares, has developed successfully in all respects. Since the start of its banking operations in December 2005, the number of customers at the biw has increased by over 30% per quarter, up to the current figure of nearly 40,000. The secret of success of biw is its business model: 'White Label Banking'. biw is basically not active in the market with its own brand, but rather enables various partners, for example e*trade and flatex to acquire clients for biw in their (the partner’s) own 'Look and Feel'. This business model is unique in Germany. Up to now, the main focus of business development at the biw was in the online-brokerage segment. As of June 2007, clients in this segment had deposited more than 140 million Euro (of total 180 million Euro cash deposits) in cash on the accounts of biw. With more than 700,000 executed orders in the 2nd quarter of 2007, biw has already processed more than 25% of the trade volume of the market leader comdirect. The trend is for major growth in this area. For the business year 2007, the first time that biw is a full 12 months consolidated with Aragon, the management is expecting a single-digit million Euro EBIT. In order to optimise the organisational structures of the positive business development of biw, from September 2007 a new team will be responsible for the bonds and security processing. The necessary contractual changes with the previous outsourcer XCOM AG will be amicably carried out. The manpower at biw will jump up from 20 to over 50 employees. In the future, through the in-sourcing of the bonds and security processing, biw will be able to grow more quickly and – above all – with higher earnings thus further increase its contribution to the operating income of the Aragon Group. The success of biw Bank exceeded all expectations of Aragon’s management and quickly outgrew the plans made only 18 months ago when establishing the bank. Initially it was the intention to use biw as custodian of the Aragon subsidiaries in order to back up the existing business model and to extend the value chain, but now when viewed on a stand alone basis, biw is one of the most fastest growing and profit-yielding units of the group. With this development, we would like to individually position biw bank on the market, as well as significantly increase its equity. Hence, Aragon has commissioned Silvia Quandt & Cie. Capital Markets AG, as well as Kepler Landsbanki Corporate Finance for preparing various strategic options – in particular an IPO or to find a strategic partner. As a first step, the XCOM Finanz GmbH will assist in a capital increase through cash funds. Thereby, the percentage of holding for Aragon will be reduced from 74.9 % to 62%. Irrespective of how the next strategic steps eventuate, our long-term aim is to maintain a minimum of 51% of biw Bank. Contact: Aragon AktiAchim Pfeffer Head of Investor Relations Aragon Aktiengesellschaft Kormoranweg 1 62501 Wiesbaden Fon: +49 (0) 611 890 575-574 Fax: +49 (0) 611 890 575-99 E-Mail: pfeffer@aragon-ag.de DGAP 20.08.2007 ----------------------------------------------------------------------