In future, the Swiss corporation Georg Fischer AG (CH-8201 Schaffhausen; www.georgfischer.com), will no longer “be involved in the operational management” of the Coperion group (D-78467 Konstanz; www.coperion.com) and will concentrate on its three core business divisions of automotive products, piping systems and manufacturing technology instead. In 2000, when Coperion was formed from the merger of Buss, Waeschle and Werner & Pfleiderer, it was agreed that West Private Equity (GB-London; www.westpe.com), a subsidiary of German WestLB, would have the right to acquire the majority ownership in the new company. Accordingly, majority ownership will now be transferred to the new owner, while Georg Fischer will retain a minority holding in Coperion to be carried in the accounts as a financial investment and deconsolidated.

While the reduction in ownership is in line with the corporation´s formerly publicised strategy of focusing on its core businesses, the divestment of the plant engineering business comes sooner as expected. In 2001, Georg Fischer is expecting to have operating profits of about CHF 80m in its remaining three corporate groups, which would lead to a positive corporate net result for 2002. Consolidated on a pro-rata basis for the first nine months of 2002, Coperion will realise a negative operating result. Due to the required value adjustment, the 2002 net result of Georg Fischer will then also be negative.

The majority ownership in Coperion is now held by West Private Equity. With the introduction of “efficiency improvement measures,” the new owner hopes for more flexibility in an ever-changing market. In future, the company will be managed by Wolfgang-Dietrich Hein (CEO) and Dr. Thomas Robl (COO).