Endress+Hauser Reaches an Agreement with Klaus Berka and bm-t

Endress+Hauser (Germany) has contractually secured additional shares of Analytik Jena AG. The Group will acquire the shares held by the German investment company bm-t and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Berka after the end of the 2013/14 financial year. Thus 75.36 percent of the shares are attributed to Endress+Hauser AG+Co KG. These options are tied to far-reaching pledges to maintain the independence of Analytik Jena and the locations in Thuringia, a federal state in eastern Germany.

Endress+Hauser will acquire the shares held by the investment company and the CEO for 13.75 euros per share. “We are thus paying the same price that we are offering to other shareholders,” emphasized Dr Heiner Zehntner, Legal Counsel of the Endress+Hauser Group.

The investment company bm-t – funded by the German federal state of Thuringia and institutional investors – currently holds 17.63 percent of Analytik Jena, company founder Klaus Berka another 9.93 percent. Previously 47.40 percent had been directly attributed to Endress+Hauser, an additional 0.41 percent – own shares of Analytik Jena AG – indirectly. After exercising the options, which will be possible after 1 October 2014, the Group will control 75.36 percent of shares based on current figures.

The options are tied to the pledge that Analytik Jena will remain an independent business unit within the Endress+Hauser Group and will be led by the Executive Board, whose chairman will remain Klaus Berka until 2017. The major locations in Thuringia are also to be maintained. Endress+Hauser expects the number of employees to grow.

“Our goal continues to be to create a pillar for our company in lab analysis with Analytik Jena, with its own structures for manufacturing and sales,” explained Klaus Endress, CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group. Our aim is to accompany customers from the laboratory through the technical center all the way to production – the domain of Endress+Hauser. “The laboratory products of Analytik Jena complement our own range of analytic products for use in process applications.”