RHI AG and two subsidiaries of Knauf Group signed a contract on January 13, 2006 to sell Heraklith Group. The transfer will be effective retroactive to January 1, 2006.
A purchase price of EUR 230 million debt free is agreed. The enforcement of the contracts is subject to several implied conditions and the approval of the competent authorities and antitrust commissions.
The agreed price reflects the much better than expected earnings development of the Heraklith Group in 2005.
With the finalization of the Heraklith sale, RHI will account a disposal gain (book profit) of around EUR 60 million in the financial year 2006.
With the sale of Heraklith Group, RHI can successfully finalize the restructuring of the group portfolio started in 2002 and will in future focus solely on the core business refractories and thus on the expansion of RHI Refractories’ leading market position world wide.
With the transaction, RHI reduces its net liabilities to financial institutions from about EUR 650 million to below EUR 430 million. At the beginning of RHI’s restructuring in 2002, net liabilities to financial institutions of the RHI Group amounted to around EUR 1,000 million.
RHI will make forceful use of the gained financial scope and expand the world-wide refractories business. There are good chances in the raw material and business area to achieve sustained success in RHI Refractories’ market position and earnings strength within the next years.