GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

mg technologies ag is now called GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft

Bochum, July 13, 2005: mg technologies ag was renamed GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft effective as of July 12, 2005. At the same time, the firm's head office has been relocated from Frankfurt am Main to Bochum. "The change of name is a logical consequence of the company's strategic restructuring process that was launched in 2003 and which we have virtually completed. GEA now stands for "Global Engineering Alliance". We are a globally active, successful engineering organization with core competencies in specialty mechanical engineering and plant engineering", stressed Jürg Oleas, GEA Group's chief executive. GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is listed in the German MDAX, as was mg technologies ag.

GEA Group currently employs around 17,000 people and, with more than 250 operating subsidiaries, is represented in approximately 50 countries. It generated sales of roughly €4.1 billion in 2004. Its most important markets - accounting for around 45 percent of its sales - are the food, beverage, dairy, and pharmaceutical industries. GEA Group is already one of the world's market and technology leaders in 90 percent of its businesses.

The renaming of the Group followed the merger of the former GEA AG with its parent company mg technologies ag. Having sold most of its Chemicals activities, GEA Group now focuses on specialty mechanical engineering - especially process engineering and equipment - and plant engineering. The largest part of the Group's sales is generated by companies of the former GEA AG.

GEA Group, which has been formed from mg technologies ag and GEA AG, combines the histories and core competencies of two successful German industrial corporations. mg technologies ag, which until 2000 operated under the name of Metallgesellschaft, can look back on a history spanning almost 125 years. A milestone on mg's journey from its beginnings as a trading company to its final destination as a technology group was the integration in 1999 of GEA AG, which, as part of the mg Group, continued the profitable growth it had sustained over the years. Founded in 1920, GEA - which originally stood for "Gesellschaft für Entstaubungsanlagen" (a company producing dedusting equipment) - has been in business for the past 85 years.