FAG and ShangGong Sign Sales Contract

SCHWEINFURT, October 29, 2004. The negotiations regarding the sale of the FAG Kugelfischer block of stocks in D¨¹rkopp Adler AG, a Bielefeld-based sewing machine manufacturer, have been successfully concluded. Representatives of the Chinese ShangGong Group and Robert Schullan as Chairman of the Executive Board of FAG Kugelfischer AG will sign the sales contract in Shanghai today. So negotiations of more than two years between the Chinese corporation and the Schweinfurt rolling bearing company come to a close. In May this year, representatives of both companies confirmed their intentions regarding D¨¹rkopp Adler in the presence of Chinese Prime Minister and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Recent changes in the ShangGong management had delayed the signing of the contract. The completion of the transaction still depends on the approval of the Chinese authorities and on the implementation of the future financing concept for D¨¹rkopp Adler by the buyer. FAG Kugelfischer AG, a member of the Schaeffler Group based at Herzogenaurach, holds a 94.9 percent majority in D¨¹rkopp Adler AG, which offers solutions in sewing and materials handling systems with some 2000 employees worldwide. The ShangGong Group employs a workforce of more than 3200 and is one of the biggest sewing machine manufacturers in China.