BERU to Sell Cable Production in Mexico and Establish a New Subsidiary For NAFTA Sales

BERU Aktiengesellschaft (FWB: BZL), Ludwigsburg, hassold its Mexican BERU subsidiary BERU S.A. de C.V. to the Mexicancorporations General Cable Holdings Mexico, S.A. de C.V., Mexico andGeneral Cable de Latinoamerica, S.A. de C.V., both having theirprincipal place of business in Tetla, Tlaxcala, Mexico. The transferof ownership will take place at the end of the year. At the same time,BERU has announced that it will establish a new subsidiary to operateunder the name of BERU Mexico S.A. de C.V. This new company will takeover the separated production of spark plugs as well as OEM, OES andaftermarket sales of BERU and OMZ products in the NAFTA region.

"We are focusing on our core competencies in the field of ignitiontechnology. At the same time, we are securing the sales of ourproducts in the important NAFTA region by cooperating with cablespecialist General Cable," commented Marco von Maltzan, Chairman ofthe Executive Board of BERU AG.

General Cable Holdings Mexico, S.A. de C.V is a subsidiary of UScompany General Cable Corporation, which is headquartered in HighlandHeights, Kentucky and has its core competence in the efficientproduction of cable sets. General Cable specializes in thedevelopment, design, production and distribution of copper, aluminumand glass-fiber cable products for the energy sector, industry,special applications and communication as well as for the automotiveindustry.

The subsidiary to be sold, BERU S.A. de C.V., Civac-Jiutepec,Morelos, was founded in 1987 and has been 100% owned by BERU since May1999. It specializes in ignition technology for the NAFTA region andmainly produces ignition cables for gasoline engines. In its latestfinancial year (April 1, 2004 - March 31, 2005), it generated salesrevenues of EUR 6.2 million with 150 employees, with most of itsrevenues resulting from product distribution. The two parties to thetransaction have agreed not to reveal the purchase price.

Approximately 25% of the company's workforce will be transferredto the new BERU subsidiary, BERU Mexico S.A. de C.V., which willprimarily focus on the OEM, OES and aftermarket sales of BERU and OMZbranded products in the NAFTA region. BERU's main customers in theNAFTA region include General Motors and the Volkswagen Group.
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