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M&A Activity • Apr 25, 2006

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Corporate | 25 April 2006 11:45

ARQUES Industries AG takes over business operations of the outdoor specialist, Fritz Berger GmbH & Co KG

Corporate-news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— ARQUES Industries AG takes over business operations of the outdoor specialist, Fritz Berger GmbH & Co KG Already the second acquisition from the KarstadtQuelle group Starnberg, April 25, 2006 – The Starnberg-based equity investment company, ARQUES Industries AG (ISIN DE0005156004), has taken over the business operations of Fritz Berger GmbH & Co. KG by way of an asset deal according to an agreement of yesterday evening. The transfer will take place on May 1, 2006. The company situated in Neumarkt (Upper Palatinate) is Europe‘s largest mail order company specialising in camping, caravaning and recreation with its main focus on the German market. The distribution takes place through an own mail order operation as well as via 16 own specialised trade stores and 50 distribution partners. In addition, 4 Jack Wolfskin stores are operated. Fritz Berger looks back at nearly fifty years of company history. The main catalogue which includes over 6,000 products and 550 pages is considered the ultimate ‘camping Bible’ with a circulation exceeding 700,000 copies. The company generated an annual revenue of € 34 million. The business operation was acquired according to the ARQUES philosophy. No financial liabilities were taken over. ARQUES subsidiary manager, Bernd Schell, who successfully restructured the ARQUES subsidiary teutonia, will become managing director of Fritz Berger. The ARQUES task force, a specialised operational strike force, will be employed immediately on a project basis. ‘Fritz Berger is not only the second acquisition from KarstadtQuelle after Golf House, but is also the second company in the specialised trade and mail order industry’, said ARQUES executive board member responsible for acquisitions, Dr. Martin Vorderwülbecke. ‘We are confident that we can transfer the economic success of Golf House to Fritz Berger.’ Fritz Berger is already the sixth company acquired by ARQUES Industries AG in the current year. In February Heinrich Heiland GmbH was acquired. Since March 2006, the Swiss custom chemicals specialist, Rohner AG, Hottinger Maschinenbau GmbH, Georg Fischer Schwab GmbH & Co KG, as well as the Cologne-based printing works, J.P. Bachem belong to the ARQUES group. Hereby the annualised group revenue has already increased by more than € 150 million to more than € 750 million in 2006. About ARQUES ARQUES Industries AG, Starnberg, 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 25.04.2006 ————————————————————————— language: English emitter: ARQUES Industries AG Münchner Str. 15a 82319 Starnberg Deutschland phone: +49 (0)8151 651-0 fax: +49 (0)8151 651- 500 email: info@arques.de WWW: www.arques.de ISIN: DE0005156004 WKN: 515600 indexes: SDAX stockmarkets: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, München, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News-Service —————————————————————————