Subject:
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Lego owner fuses with Barco
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 7 Sep 2001 17:38:29 GMT
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Original-From:
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Simon Bogaert <SIMON.BOGAERT@ADVALVASavoidspam.BE>
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Viewed:
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675 times
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Hello,
Just got this from a Barco insider... I guess the RCX 4.0 will come with a
Widescreen Television screen made by Barco ;-)!
Greetz,
Simon Bogaert
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PRESS RELEASE
Embargo until September 7, 2001, 4.00 p.m.
Barco Graphics and Purup-Eskofot to merge
CLEAR SYNERGIES WILL LEAD TO A PROMISING FUTURE
Kortrijk, 7 september 2001. Barco n.v., the parent company of Barco
Graphics, and Kirkbi A/S, the parent company of Danish Purup-Eskofot and
owned by the descendants of the founder of the LEGO Group, today announced
that they have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding to merge Barco Graphics
and Purup-Eskofot into one combined company: BPE. Barco n.v. will own 49%
of this new company, and Kirkbi A/S will own 51%.
Purup-Eskofot has a very strong position in commercial printing, in the
newspaper publishing and in quick printing markets, with a broad portfolio
of prepress equipment and their own workflow solution for newspaper
publishing. The company is now launching its new PlateDriver offset
Computer-to-Plate machine at Print '01 , the 4-yearly exhibition in Chicago.
On the other hand, Barco Graphics has a number of products for commercial
printing, amongst which the Mondrian, that will truly complement the
portfolio of Purup-Eskofot. At the same time, Barco Graphics, with its
worldwide leading position in prepress and preproduction of packaging, will
be able to enlarge its packaging systems offering with the CtP portfolio of
Purup-Eskofot. Synergies between the 2 merging companies are therefore very
strong and guarantee excellent opportunities for BPE to develop an
exceptionally strong position, both in the packaging and in the commercial
printing market. As a minority shareholder BARCO will benefit from the
expected success of BPE.
The combined turnover of the two organizations merging into BPE is about
Euro 250 mio.
The intention of the merger is to create a financially strong company by
making it debt and cash free on both sides. Before the Merger Kirkbi A/S
will reimburse the important debts of Purup-Eskofot, while BARCO will
retrieve more than 10 mio euros of cash. In order to come to a 51 %
participation, Kirkbi A/S will also make an equalization payment to BARCO of
about Euro 9 mio. The merger should bring BARCO an exceptional positive
result at the time of the closing, planned before the end of 2001. At the
same time the management of BPE will be given the opportunity to participate
in the company. In this way neither of the 2 merging partners will have
absolute majority.
The head office of BPE will be in Gent, Belgium. Hardware and software
product development will be in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Czechia
and the USA. William Schulin-Zeuthen, currently President and CEO of
Purup-Eskofot will become CEO of BPE. Bruno Pairon, Managing Director of
Barco Graphics, will cooperate in the set-up of the new company.
Barco Graphics is the leading global supplier to the packaging industry for
digital pre-production solutions, and the only one to offer an integrated
approach to graphic and structural workflows. It is also the market leader
in flexo Computer-to-Plate imaging, supported by a co-marketing agreement
with DuPont Cyrel. Barco Graphics further is the leader in digital prepress
solutions for the cartographic market, and an important OEM supplier to the
digital document printing market, with partners such as Xeikon and IBM.
Purup-Eskofot is one of the world's leading digital prepress suppliers to
the commercial printing, the newspaper publishing and the quick printing
markets. It is the leader in copydot scanning solutions, and in the
computer-to-polyester-plate imaging market where it has OEM and distribution
agreements with AB Dick and Mitsubishi Paper Mills.
The new company BPE will combine the management, R&D, manufacturing
facilities and distribution resources of the previous entities. The two
merging companies have the perfect product portfolios to complement each
other in their respective strong market positions: Barco Graphics in
Packaging and Purup- Eskofot in commercial printing.
One of the products of Barco Graphics that will enhance the offering of
Purup-Eskofot to the commercial printing market is the Mondrian, the fastest
and most automated Very Large Format (VLF) 830 nm thermal Computer-to-Plate
unit available. The Mondrian , will complement the PlateDriver series of
internal drum CtP machines of Purup-Eskofot, now being launched at Print '01
in Chicago. PlateDriver supports both visible light and thermal imaging.
The Violet diode implementation of PlateDriver is the fastest 8-page
commercial CtP device on the market. Furthermore, Barco Graphics will now
be able to enlarge its Packaging Systems offering with the CtP portfolio of
Purup-Eskofot.
In this way the merger will give BPE the broadest line of Computer-to-Plate
products and market leadership in a number of graphic arts and packaging
business areas. After a delay in the shipment schedule of the Mondrian,
deliveries will take off in October. The PlateDriver, which is now launched
at Print '01 in Chicago, will start being shipped out immediately after the
Chicago-exhibition. These revenues will considerably improve the results of
both companies, now merged in BPE.
About BARCO
Barco has four key activities: Barco Projection, BarcoView, BarcoVision and
Barco Graphics. In 2000, the entire Barco group, without BarcoNet, which
was split off from BARCO in the second half of 2000, delivered a revenue of
Euro 751 million. Approximately 50 % of this revenue is realized outside
Western Europe. BARCO has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents
in 97 countries throughout the world. BARCO has been quoted on the Brussels
Bourse since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. BARCO is a BEL
20 and a Next 150 company.
About KIRKBI A/S
Kirkbi A/S is an independent company owned by the descendants of the founder
of the LEGO Group. Kirkbi A/S is the owner of the LEGO trade marks and acts
as an in house bank for the LEGO Group of companies.
You can find more information about BARCO on the web: http://www.barco.com
For more information:
JP Tanghe - Vice President Corporate Communication & Investor Relations
President Kennedypark 35 - 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium
Tel ++ 32 56 262907 - Fax ++ 32 56 262262
E-mail: jp.tanghe@barco.com
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