HgCapital, the European sector-focused private equity investor and Dürr AG have signed an agreement on the sale of Schenck Measuring and Process Technologies, which values the company at 205 million EURO. The management of Schenk MPT will participate in the buy-out and take a minority stake. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. This is the third acquisition by HgCapital in Germany in 2005. The combined value of these three transactions totals more than 400 million EURO.

Schenck MPT is part of Carl Schenck AG, a fully owned subsidiary of Dürr AG. The company is the global market leader for high-tech applications and solutions in industrial weighing, feeding and automation. Schenck MPT develops, manufactures, assembles, markets and sells a full range of solutions, products, systems and turnkey systems on the basis of reliable components, combining process-engineering expertise and field-proven technology. It is the only company offering its customers a full line of applications and products across the various industries in the market for weighing and feeding. Schenck MPT has activities in more than 40 countries and operates eleven state-of-the art assembly facilities globally.

In the year 2005, Schenck MPT will generate sales of approximately 225 million EURO.

Martin Block, Head of HgCapital Frankfurt, said: “Schenck MPT is the undisputed leader within its industry. The company operates under a highly recognized brand name and has solid and long-established relationships with a large number of blue-chip clients all over the world. The management of Schenck MPT has demonstrated during the successful restructuring of the company that it has a profound understanding of the business and its markets. We fully endorse the management’s current strategy and will bring in additional experience, expertise and resources to boost growth and profitability further. Although Schenck MPT already has a strong presence in high growth markets we will look carefully for acquisition opportunities, particularly in the markets of China, India, South America and Eastern Europe.”

Dr Jochen Weyrauch, CEO of Schenck MPT, said: “The buy-out of Schenck MPT is the decisive next step in order to continue the successful expansion of the business achieved over the last few years. The company has increasingly developed into a stand-alone business and the most recent reorganisation has laid the platform for the successful separation of this division from the main group. As an independent business, Schenck MPT can be developed with greater focus and efficiency and we look forward to working with HgCapital, which is an experienced shareholder with strong capital resources. With our solutions in measuring and process technologies we believe we are well positioned across all growth industries, in particular the extraction and processing of raw materials.”