Dear Partner,

With a view to keeping our business partners informed about recent events within our organisation, we are pleased to announce that on 30th December 2005, private equity investor HgCapital and Dürr AG closed on the acquisition
of Schenck Process.

Following years of continual and successful growth, the investment of HgCapital facilitates the onward development of Schenck Process. Within Dürr AG, Schenck Process had increasingly grown into a stand-alone business and our structural reorganisation had laid the platform for the successful separation of Schenck Process from the main Dürr AG group. As an independent business, Schenck Process can now be developed with greater focus and efficiency.

HgCapital have completely endorsed the strategy of Schenck Process’s management and we now both look forward with great enthusiasm to actualising our future plans.

Schenck Process with headquarters located in Darmstadt , Germany are global market leaders of solutions in measuring and process technologies in industrial weighing, feeding, screening and automation. Schenck Process develops, manufactures, assembles, markets and sells a full range of solutions, products and turnkey systems on the basis of reliable components, combining process engineering expertise and field-proven technology.

Schenck Process is organised along five business segments:

- Heavy Industry (building materials, cement, sand & gravel and steel industries),
- Light Industry (speciality chemicals, plastics and food industries),
- Mining,
- Transport Automation
- and Spare Parts & Components

Employing over 1,300 staff, Schenck Process has activities in more than 40 countries and operates eleven state-of-the art assembly facilities globally. In Year 2005, Schenck Process generated sales of approximately €225 million with more than 40% generated in the high-growth markets of China , India , South America and Eastern Europe.

We hereby would like to ask you as our customers, our partners around the world, to support this new period in Schenck’s long and proud history and confirm that the aforementioned news has no impact on your day-to-day dealing with us.

Finally, we would like to use this opportunity to thank you for letting us be a part of your business and we look forward to continuing our mutually rewarding partnership.

Yours faithfully