euro adhoc: Fortune Management Inc.
Mergers - Acquisitions - Takeovers
-
Fortune acquires majority in the Halle Biodiesel Plant
- Subsidiary Global Alternative Energy Germany GmbH takes operational control
with immediate effect
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
09.06.2006
Zug/Switzerland, 9 June 2006 - Global Alternative Energy S.a.r.L.
("GATE"), a 65 % subsidiary of Fortune Management Inc. (General
Standard, ISIN USU026281027, SIN: A0BLYY) has, through a subsidiary,
acquired 52 % of JC Neckermann Biodiesel GmbH in Halle ("Halle")
from two former shareholders, evidenced by notarized contract as of
8th June 2006. The transfer of 10 % hereof is subject to a condition
precedent.At the same time, the partners in GATE (Dieter Heisig, Marlene Neckermann, Philip Neckermann) have transferred their 48 % shareholding in Halle into GATE, which so far already owned the beneficial ownership interests.
With immediate effect, GATE has assumed full operational responsibility for the refinery, which produces biodiesel at a capacity of 60.000 tonnes per year and pharmagycerin at 10.000 tonnes per year. Hence, Halle will be fully integrated into GATE and can be coordinated with the other refineries.
The construction of the presently worlds largest integrated biodiesel refinery in Wittemberg is in full progress. The completion of these 200.000 tonns per year facility is being expected in the first quarter 2007. The same applies for the 100.000 tonns per year refinery in Enns, Austria.
The negotiations about the further expansion of the GATE-production capacity throughout Europe are in advanced stage. Fortune recently placed a bond issue over Euro 70 million with Goldman Sachs International and further institutional investors, whereby the entire financing for this scheduled expansion was being secured.
End of AdHoc message.
René Müller, CEO of Fortune, comments the transaction as follows: "Taking over control of Halle is an important move in the execution of our strategy. It brings us one step closer to the defined objective of having production capacity until year-end 2006 of at least 800.000 tonnes per year under contract, under construction or in production."
Dieter Heisig, CEO of GATE, said: "In order to achieve the necessary scaling effects it is critical to coordinate all of the GATE facilities centrally. Halle was the first plant that we built. Therefore, it takes an exemplarily role within the entire group. I thank Prinz Ysenburg and Jörg Richard Lemberg for their help at the time in realizing the project and I am convinced that the facility is now placed ideally within the Fortune/GATE group."
Profile of Fortune Management Inc.: FORTUNE Management Inc., Zug/Switzerland, is an on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange listed private equity firm. Its two main activities Principal Investments and Private Equity Management operate from the same corporate platform. Principal Investments comprises of direct investments into different businesses, such as e.g. Wealth Management in Switzerland (Fortune Wealth Management Group Ltd.) or Biodiesel (GATE Global Alternative Energy S.a.r.L.). Fortune is generally seeking to acquire controlling interests in these investments for dividend income and capital gain. Under Private Equity Management, Fortune subsumes its investments in Private Equity Managers (General Partners and Advisors), such as Antarctic International Private Equity Fund S.A. in Chile. The focus in this segment lies in consolidating long-term recurring management and performance fee income. FORTUNE has subsidiaries in Zug, Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, Luxembourg, Wuerzburg, Santiago de Chile and Dubai.
The companys shares (ISIN: USU 026281027) are quoted on the Regulated Market (General Standard) at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the DIFX (Symbol: FMI1) in Dubai.
end of announcement euro adhoc 09.06.2006 11:07:17
Further inquiry note:
For more information:
Fortune Management Inc.
Mark Kübler
Investor Relations
Tel.: +41 41 727 10 40
Fax: +41 41 727 10 41
Email: ir@fortune-management.com
Branche: Financial & Business Services
ISIN: USU026281027
WKN: A0BLYY
Börsen: Börse Berlin-Bremen / free trade
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing/general
standard