acquisition Metalis and Methatherm in France

Aalberts Industries N.V. has reached agreement with the shareholders of the French Alpha-C Group concerning the acquisition of full ownership of the Group. This will strengthen the European position of Aalberts Industries in the area of Industrial Services.

The Alpha-C Group, which has its headquarters in Besançon in France, comprises two companies whose core business is precision sheet metal stamping technology (Metalis) and heat & surface treatment (Metatherm). In 2001 the total turnover of the Group was approximately eur 35 million.

With two production facilities, both in France, Metalis is one of the leading precision sheet metal stamping companies in Europe, with just a few competitors. Besides supplying the electrical engineering and automotive industries, Metalis also serves the French nuclear industry. The company is involved in both small-scale (up to 100 units) and large-scale (over 1 million units) manufacturing. Metalis makes use of a unique technology to produce complex precision sheet metal stamping components fully automatically. Within the Aalberts Industries Group there will be an opportunity to develop Metalis further, particularly its international activities.

Metatherm has three production facilities in the east of France and is active in the field of heat treatment. Metatherm provides a wide range of heat treatment processes, including a newly patented process for applying PVD coatings. The three Metatherm facilities will be part of the European network of service centres and will work closely with the French company Thermi Centre, which already belongs to the Aalberts Industries Group. Thermi Centre also has three production facilities and is concentrated mainly in central France. With their joint production facilities, Metatherm and Thermi Centre will be in a position to serve the market in central and eastern France, whilst northern France can be served together with the in the Netherlands based group company Mamesta. Moreover, collaboration with the German Hauck Group in the French/German border region will enable them to strengthen their market position.

The acquisition fits in with the strategy of Aalberts Industries of selectively adding high-performance technologies to its activities in the field of industrial components and building up a European network of materials treatment (surface & heat treatment) service centres. With this acquisition Aalberts Industries is also strengthening its presence on the French industrial market.

The incumbent management will be responsible for all French heat treatment activities and for the development of other Industrial Services business in France. It is expected that the activities of Metalis (precision sheet metal stamping) will be expanded into a cluster.

As announced earlier, the acquisition will be financed out of part of the proceeds of more than 1.9 million Aalberts Industries shares issued last week via Dexia Securities and floated within a few hours. The results of Metalis and Metatherm will be consolidated with effect from 1 January 2002. The acquisition will contribute to the growth in earnings per share in 2002.