Frankfurt – CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”), a leading private equity firm in Europe and Asia, today announced that funds managed and advised by CVC will acquire Ruhrgas Industries GmbH from E.ON Ruhrgas AG for around € 1.5 billion including assumed debt and pension liabilities. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Ruhrgas Industries is headquartered in Essen, Germany, and produces an extensive range of gas, electricity and water meters as well as industrial furnaces for a global market. The company is located in 36 countries across the world and employs almost 9,700 people, 2,800 of which work in Germany. Ruhrgas Industries is a wholly owned subsidiary of E.ON Ruhrgas AG, which was acquired by E.ON AG in 2003. In 2004 Ruhrgas Industries generated a turnover of € 1.4 billion and achieved record profits.

According to Marc Strobel, Managing Director at CVC in Frankfurt, CVC’s interest in Ruhrgas Industries is mainly driven by the company’s excellent market position as well as its potential for further growth: “Ruhrgas Industries is an outstanding company that is already well positioned in many of its businesses. Its success is founded on its high-quality products, highly motivated and qualified staff and its collegiate style between the workers’ representatives and the management, which we want to continue in the future.

Ruhrgas Industries has considerable potential for growth, which we would like to realise jointly with the company’s management and its employees. We see good opportunities for growing the business both organically and through acquisitions in the area of Automated Meter Reading (AMR) and in the regions of Asia and North America in particular. Market growth is driven by the increasing scarcity of global water and energy resources. Ruhrgas Industries’ good competitive position in measurement and metering technology clearly make the company a candidate for a flotation on the stock exchange for the future. The industrial furnaces business has an excellent technology position in its markets and at present benefits from a dynamic growth in Asia.” Steven Koltes, Founding Partner of CVC and head of the firm’s German office since 1991, commented: “In a mid- to long-term perspective, Ruhrgas Industries clearly has better prospects on a stand-alone basis than as part of a large corporate group to assert and expand its competitive positions in many markets and to follow new paths of growth. CVC will contribute considerably to this development by providing capital and know-how as a long-term partner.”