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Dürr now an international service provider

04/26/1999

• Leading international provider of manufacturing support services to the automotive industry purchased
• unique systems package for equipment and services / further growth expected

Dürr AG, Stuttgart, has purchased the American company Premier Manufacturing Support Services Inc. with effect from April 1, 1999. With the acquisition of the world market leader in manufacturing support services for the automotive industry, Dürr AG is able to expand its systems business by adding a promising business area to its range of products and services, thus continuing the company's trend in earnings growth.

Premier has its headquarters in Cincinnati/Ohio, and maintains ongoing operations in nine other countries outside the USA. The company achieved sales of approx. DM 160 million in the last business year with 2500 employees. At the center of Premier's service program are support services such as cleaning, materials supply, maintenance, repair and building management/janitorial services. With this acquisition Dürr - apart from supplying turnkey paint shops - offers a comprehensive service package on a single-source accountability basis for running paint shops.

"Our customers in the global automotive industry do not only want paint shops to be supplied from a single source, but are increasingly transferring the responsibility for running the paint shops to a systems partner. Premier, as an experienced service specialist in this area is therefore the ideal supplement for our product and service range", says Hans Dieter Pötsch, Chairman of the Board of Dürr AG.

The newly created service business unit has a medium-term sales target of approx. DM 500 million per year. Dürr estimates the annual market potential for manufacturing support services of more than DM 2 bn.

Whilst Premier currently maintains its major activities on the American market, Dürr has customer relations to over 180 automotive plants around the world, and can there-fore provide a much wider basis of access to the market for both parties. With growing business activities directly in automotive manufacturing, Dürr as a plant specialist, can better balance the fluctuations in the demand cycles, and in addition to this, can benefit from the reflux of know-how to further optimize plant equipment and processes.

Premier was founded in 1984 and belonged to the service group ServiceMaster Inc., Chicago. Dürr belongs to the leading systems suppliers of Paint Finishing Systems, Industrial Cleaning Systems and Environmental Systems. In the past business year 1998 that saw a double digit growth in sales and earnings as well as international acquisitions in the business units Conveyor Techniques, Environmental Systems and Industrial Cleaning Systems, the group achieved a new record in incoming orders of over DM 2.1 bn.