IWKA sells Boehringer group and GSN Maschinen-Anlagen-Service GmbH

The IWKA Group sold all of the companies of the Boehringer Group. Purchasers are companies of the MAXCOR Group. The only item still outstanding to complete the sale is the approval by the Bundeskartellamt (German federal antitrust authority). The two parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction, which was organized by an investment
bank.

Boehringer is a manufacturer of CNC lathes and crankshaft machining centers and offers its customers complete solutions, as well as full service for the systems it supplies. In 2005, the Boehringer Group generated sales revenues of EUR 140 million and currently employs 500 persons. The Group includes Boehringer Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, Boehringer Werkzeugmaschinen Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, FMS Drehtechnik Schaffhausen AG, Switzerland, UBJ-Boehringer Inc., Canada, and George Fischer-Boehringer Corporation, USA.

The divestment will generate additional losses of approximately EUR 20 million (over and above the write-downs already included to June 30, 2006), which will be charged to the results from discontinued operations of the IWKA Group for the 2006 business year. These charges are primarily due to nonliquidity related expenses plus the transaction costs.

The purchaser, MAXCOR, Inc., is a company founded in 1975 and headquartered in New York. It focuses on purchasing medium-size companies in the mechanical engineering sector and has extensive expertise in the areas of manufacturing, automation, logistics and industrial services. IWKA already sold the EX-CELL-O Group to MAXCOR at the end of 2005.

As part of its ongoing program of divesting of non-core businesses, the IWKA Group has also sold GSN Maschinen-Anlagen-Service GmbH, which is headquartered in Rottenburg am Neckar. GSN had been categorized as a discontinued operation effective June 30, 2006. This sale was executed as a management buyout. The purchase was completed on November 21, 2006. The parties have also agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

GSN focuses on maintaining, upgrading and relocating standard and special machine tools. In 2005, GSN generated sales of about EUR 17 million and currently has about 123 employees.
The sale of Boehringer and GSN, plus the JW Froehlich Group, Bopp & Reuther Sicherheits- und Regelarmaturen Group and Hassia-Redatron GmbH brings to a close the main divestment activities planned for the 2006 business year.