New Parent Ownership For Preh

An agreement has been reached by Aditron AG for the sale and transfer of Preh-Werke GmbH & Co to Deutsche Beteiligungs subject to approval by the Federal Cartel Office. The sale is the result of management's decision at Rheinmetall AG the previous parent company, to withdraw for the Electronics sector which included Preh-Werke GmbH & Co, a subsidiary of Aditron AG and concentrate its efforts on its two core businesses - Automotive (Kolben-schmidt Pierburg AG) and Defense (Rheinmetall DeTec AG).

Deutsche Beteiligungs, which now includes senior executives of the Preh Group, is a highly reputable German investment group, with a long-term investment philosophy for sustaining growth and the ongoing internationalization of Preh-Werke GmbH & Co. In fiscal 2002, Preh-Werke GmbH generated sales of EUR 219 million.

"The new ownership structure will provide increased management focus and capital resources directed to the Point of Sale business within the Preh group of companies, further improving our ability to produce industry leading data entry solutions, thereby fueling the continued growth of our business," states Bob Nelson, president of Preh Electronics' Inc., a subsidiary of Preh Werke GmbH. Preh USA markets and supports programmable keyboards and touch screens to the Americas. Preh Werke GmbH is a leading manufacturer of point of sale keyboards, touch screens and data entry devices to global general and specialized retail, banking and related markets.