Corporate | 13 January 2009 10:00
AURELIUS AG / Acquisition 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- • Leading IT service provider in Germany with strong customer base • Acquisition of all company shares from Thales Group • Revenue of around EUR 50 million with positive pretax earnings Munich, 13 January 2009 – Munich based industrial holding AURELIUS acquires Thales Information Systems GmbH (Siegburg), one of Germany’s leading IT service providers for SAP systems and custom solutions. The contracts were signed with the France-headquartered parent company Thales. With more than 250 consultants and well in excess of a hundred SAP projects successfully carried out, Thales Information Systems is one of Germany’s premium system integrators in the SAP sector. In the 2008 financial year, the company generated consolidated revenues of around EUR 50 million with positive pretax earnings. Since the company was integrated into the Thales Group (former Thomson-CSF) 1996, a host of reputable German and international companies from the manufacturing and automotive sectors as well as finance, utilities and transportation have relied on the expertise of Thales Information Systems. As a spin-off of Thales, which focuses on its core business in the critical information systems sector, Thales Information Systems fits perfectly into the profile of companies AURELIUS typically acquires. 'As ‘Good Home’ for companies in special situations, we will help Thales Information Systems to operate in the market successfully as an independent company in the coming months and years,' explains Dr. Dirk Markus, CEO of AURELIUS. 'Together with the employees we shall further extend the company’s expertise and structures.' Fabrice Bourdeix, VP, MD of Critical Information Systems of Thales, sees great benefit for customers of Thales Information Systems as well. 'Through this transaction, Thales extends the reach of Thales Information Systems in the IT services market in Germany and retains a strategic partnership with its former subsidiary to jointly address the needs of international customers and bring them higher added value.' AURELIUS has been operating successfully in the IT service sector since taking over system integration operations from the Swiss based telecommunications group Sunrise in June 2008. This company currently operating under the name 'connectis' is now one of the leading system integrators in Switzerland as underlined by its growing customer base. The acquisition of Thales Information Systems is subject to approval by the responsible anti-trust authorities. The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of January. For further information on AURELIUS, we are happy to serve you: Ingo Middelmenne Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Fon +49 (89) 544799 - 56 Fax +49 (89) 544799 - 55 ingo.middelmenne@aureliusinvest.de About AURELIUS AURELIUS AG with headquarters in Munich acquires medium-sized businesses and group subsidiaries, which no longer correspond to the core business of its former owner. AURELIUS also acquires companies with complex structures and actively continues to develop them. With the help of a separate, specialized task force the company lifts the potential for added value of its subsidiaries for the benefit of all stakeholders and is well aware of the related social responsibility. The shares of AURELIUS AG are traded in the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A0JK2A8). About Thales Thales is a leading international group, addressing Defence, Aerospace and Security markets worldwide. Thales’s expertise in its core markets spans the entire value chain, providing all the capabilities its customers require, from equipment and systems to comprehensive support services, and including prime contracting on large-scale programmes. Thales’s leading-edge technology is supported by 22,000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group’s civil and military businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with revenues in 2007 of EUR 12.3 billion. 13.01.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP ----------------------------------------------------------------------