Schweiter Technologies to purchase Alcan Compos...

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Horgen, September 22, 2009 - Schweiter Technologies has entered  into
an agreement with Rio  Tinto Group to  purchase the Alcan  Composites
business for USD  349 million  (incl. interest-bearing  liabilities).
The transaction is expected  to be completed before  the end of  year
once  the  employee  representatives  have  been  consulted  and  the
relevant competition authorities have given their approval.

Alcan Composites is the  global market leader  in core materials  for
sandwich constructions,  particularly  for  use in  wind  farms.  The
company is also a leading player in other segments, such as composite
panels  for  high-quality  facades  and  display  applications.   Its
best-known brands are Airex, Alucobond Baltek, Dibond, Forex,  Gator,
Kapa and Sintra.

The company's head office is in  Sins, in the Swiss canton of  Aargau
and it operates 16 production facilities in Germany, Switzerland, the
US, South America, China and  India. In 2008, pro forma  consolidated
sales reached USD 859 million and  EBITDA came to USD 88 million.  In
the first eight months of  the current year, Composites posted  sales
of USD 394 million and EBITDA totaling USD 36 million (before audit).
Between 2006 and 2008, Composites  grew by 20%. Its headcount  stands
at around 1,700  (excluding balsa operations  in Ecuador),  including
450 posts in Switzerland.

In future, Composites will be managed as a third independent division
alongside SSM Textile  Machinery and  Ismeca Semiconductor.  Business
development  is  to  be  further   accelerated.  There  will  be   no
organizational or  management  changes.  The CEO  is  Georg  Reif,  a
53-year old Swiss citizen with  a degree in engineering (dipl.  Ing.)
from the  Swiss  Federal  Institute of  Technology.  The  other  nine
management members were recruited from all over the world.

Alcan Composites has its origins in the former Alusuisse and Lonza,
which played a pioneering role in the development of composite
materials. After the merger of the two companies to form al-group,
Alusuisse's aluminum composite panels operations and Lonza's foamed
plastics business in Sins were combined into what then and Alcan was
in turn taken over by Rio Tinto in 2007.

Composites meets the  criteria applied  to acquisitions  in terms  of
global market leadership, autonomy and growth opportunities and is  a
more attractive proposition  than would be  available to  Schweiter's
shareholders in the event of a cash pay-out in the general market.

Within the  Schweiter  portfolio,  as  a  supplier  of  consumer-type
capital goods, it  will balance out  the cycles of  the two  existing
divisions and any  possible further acquisitions  in the  engineering
sector. Once  the transaction  has  been completed,  Schweiter  still
expects to  have liquidity  totaling around  CHF 300  million with  a
largely debt-free balance sheet. Other opportunities for acquisitions
are being pursued.


In light of recent  events, a media and  analyst conference is to  be
held on:

Tuesday, September 22,  2009 at 1  pm at the  Marriott Hotel  Zurich,
Neumühlequai 42, 8001 Zurich


Schweiter Technologies
www.schweiter.com
Schweiter Technologies, a Swiss company with a strong tradition,
focuses activities on high-quality machine construction. The Group
currently comprises the divisions SSM Textile Machinery and Ismeca
Semiconductor. Shares of Schweiter Technologies are listed in the
main segment of the SIX Swiss Exchange.
ISIN: CH0010754924 / Reuters: SWTZ / Bloomberg: SWTQ SW


Rio Tinto
www.riotinto.com, www.alcancomposites.com
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in
the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company,
and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities
Exchange.


Please find the Media release in the PDF attached.


 
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Schweiter Technologies
Neugasse 10 Horgen Switzerland

WKN: 879123; 
ISIN: CH0010754924; Index: SPI, SPIEX, SSCI;
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