Bechtle AG — M&A Activity 2008

Jul 11, 2008

News Details

Corporate | 11 July 2008 08:00

Bechtle expands in Austria

Bechtle 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.

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With the acquisition of the Viennese system house, Madras Computer, Bechtle
continues to strive for full coverage in the DACH markets.

Neckarsulm/Vienna, 11 July 2008 – Effective yesterday, Bechtle AG acquired
Madras Computer Vertriebs GmbH. The Europe-wide IT trade and service
company now has one foot on the Austrian system house market. With twelve
employees Madras Computer has achieved a turnover of 6.7 million Euros in
the last fiscal year. The acquisition is subject to approval by the cartel
authorities.

'The acquisition of Madras Computer is a logical step in our strategy to
expand our system house segment. Our goal is to achieve full coverage on
the German-speaking market', says Ralf Klenk, founder and CEO of Bechtle
AG. Founded in 1990, the Vienna-based Madras Computer is an established
system integrator in the Austrian market, which specialises in enterprise
storage and backup solutions as well as IT infrastructure and security.
Their clientele includes public sector bodies as well as small and
medium-sized companies. Among others, Madras Computer is a certified
partner of EMC2, Fujitsu Siemens, VMware and Novell.

Management stays on board

As is usually the case with Bechtle acquisitions, the continuity of the
business organisation will be preserved. Robert Öfferl and Christian Steger
will retain their position as head of Madras Computer. The parties agreed
to keep the purchase price confidential. 'With Madras Computer we could
include a reputable and profitable business into the Bechtle group, the
ideal prerequisite to spawn our system house activity in Austria', says
Ralf Klenk. Robert Öfferl adds, 'For us, Bechtle is the ideal partner for
future-oriented development of our company. The integration into a strong,
European-wide group not only spurs our competitiveness, but also guarantees
security and continuity for the benefit of both our customers and
employees.'

With Bechtle direkt and ARP Datacon, the Bechtle group already has
established trading companies in Austria.

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About Bechtle

With more than 50 system houses
in Germany and Switzerland and trading companies in nine countries, the
Bechtle Group is one of Europe's leading IT e-commerce providers. Founded
in 1983, the company is based in Neckarsulm and currently employs over 4200
people. Bechtle is a manufacturer-independent company that provides
one-stop shopping for all the IT infrastructure and operation needs of its
small and medium-sized industrial, public sector and financial market
customers. Bechtle has been listed on the German stock exchange since 2000
and is on the TecDAX, the German technology index. In 2007, turnover was at
around 1.4 thousand million Euros.

Contact:
Bechtle AG
Corporate Communications

Sabine Brand
Telefon: +49 7132/981-4115
Telefax: +49 7132/981-4116
presse@bechtle.com

11.07.2008 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

Language: English
Issuer: Bechtle AG
Bechtle Platz 1
74172 Neckarsulm
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)71 32/ 9 81-0
Fax: +49 (0)7132/ 9 81 - 8000
E-mail: ir@bechtle.com
Internet: www.bechtle.com
ISIN: DE0005158703
WKN: 515870
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart

End of News DGAP News-Service

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