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M&A Activity • Aug 29, 2006

News Details

Corporate | 29 August 2006 08:00

ARQUES takes over large Swiss printer, Farbendruck Weber AG

Corporate news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— ARQUES takes over large Swiss printer, Farbendruck Weber AG Acquisition seals important strategic south-western axis of the ARQUES printing activities Starnberg, August 29, 2006 – The Starnberg-based equity investment company, ARQUES Industries AG (ISIN DE0005156004), has taken over all business shares of Farbendruck Weber AG based in Biel (Switzerland). The company is the leading supplier of printed products in the web offset segment in Switzerland. It has ultramodern machinery and optimally supplements the ARQUES printing activities both technically and geographically. The company generated an annual revenue of more than EUR 50 million. The parties agreed not to disclose any information regarding the contractual details or the purchase price which consisted of a cash component and a share component. The seller is the French Partenaires-Livres Group. The acquisition of Farbendruck Weber AG was essentially furthered by the newly founded ARQUES subsidiary in Switzerland within the context of the internationalisation strategy. Farbendruck Weber AG is a model plant for MAN printing machines with latest generation machines at its disposal. The company owns extensive real estate. ARQUES subsidiary manager, Ulli Seibel, who previously restructured the ARQUES subsidiary, Golf House, will be appointed managing director of Farbendruck Weber AG with immediate effect. By way of the acquisition, the revenue of the ARQUES printing activities, which now include a total of eight locations, increased to almost EUR 250 million (annualised). Farbendruck Weber AG is currently the largest location. It opens up the strategically important Swiss printing market and thereby represents an important regional link to the other three southern printing locations, Evry Rotatives (Paris/France), the Sochor Group (Zell am See/Austria) and Colordruck Pforzheim (Pforzheim/Germany). After the acquisition of the Wolfsheck paper mill from the StoraEnso group – the transaction was announced last Friday – Farbendruck Weber AG is already the ninth acquisition of the ARQUES group in the current financial year. The annualised group revenue of the ARQUES subsidiaries thereby increases to over EUR 850 million. Considering the well filled acquisition pipeline, the Executive Board of ARQUES Industries AG is optimistic that the annualised group revenue annual target for 2006 to the value of EUR 1 billion will soon be exceeded. About ARQUES ARQUES Industries AG, Starnberg, (www.arques.de), is a turnaround specialist who focuses on the acquisition and the active restructuring of companies in transitional situations, in order to develop these, with its own team and own resources, to competitive enterprises with a positive yield. ARQUES revitalises its subsidiaries’ potential for creating value for the benefit of all its stakeholders, taking on the relevant social responsibility. ARQUES has made a duty of identifying underestimated companies with reduced survivability but with high appreciation potential, at the same time mastering complex company structures and transitional situations. The shares of ARQUES Industries AG are traded in the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘AQU’ (ISIN: DE0005156004) and are listed in the SDAX since September 19, 2005. Contact: ARQUES Industries AG Investor Relations & Corporate Communication Anke Lüdemann, CEFA/CIIA Tel.: +49 (0) 8151/ 651 0 Email: luedemann@arques.de (c)DGAP 29.08.2006 ————————————————————————— Language: English Issuer: ARQUES Industries AG Münchner Str. 15a 82319 Starnberg Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)8151 651-0 Fax: +49 (0)8151 651- 500 E-mail: info@arques.de WWW: www.arques.de ISIN: DE0005156004 WKN: 515600 Indices: SDAX Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————