Heidelberg Expands Its Position on the Postpress Market

With effect from September 1, 2002 Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will take over the Swedish engineering company IDAB WAMAC International AB (IDAB WAMAC). This company specializes in mailroom products for the newspaper printing industry. The takeover will allow Heidelberg to expand its portfolio of postpress products in this market segment and to offer comprehensive mailroom solutions. This includes all steps from conveying, buffering, storing and inserting newspaper supplements to addressing, stacking, packaging, sorting and loading the finished products. The systems are designed and manufactured in Eksjö, Sweden. There is an office in Stockholm for sales and marketing and for software development.

IDAB WAMAC employs 120 staff and the company's total annual sales in 2001 came to 35 million Euro. The parties have agreed not to publicize the takeover conditions.

The global market for mailroom products is estimated at around 500 million Euro. The acquisition of IDAB WAMAC gives Heidelberg a market share of 12 percent, which corresponds to around 60 million Euro.

Up till now, Heidelberg has addressed mainly the North American market with its mailroom products. IDAB WAMAC is particularly strong in Asia and Europe. "The takeover of IDAB WAMAC puts us in a position to offer innovative mailroom solutions for the newspaper printing industry worldwide. It is a logical continuation of our corporate strategy to become a market leader in the postpress sector", explains Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberg. The acquisition of IDAB WAMAC gives Heidelberg the opportunity to fill a major gap in its product portfolio and offer to the newspaper printing industry a complete solution for a fully automated process from printing press to distribution truck.

For further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Investor Relations
Dirk Kaliebe
Tel: +49 (0)6221 92 60 20
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 60 61
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