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Home › Media › Releases 2005 › CapMan acquires Metso Drives from Metso Corporation

Press release - 4 March 2005

CapMan acquires Metso Drives from Metso Corporation

The funds managed/advised by CapMan have agreed to acquire supplier of mechanical power transmission equipment Metso Drives from the Metso Corporation. The transaction has a debt-free value of approximately EUR 98 million. The transfer of Metso Drives Oy and its international subsidiaries to the ownership of CapMan funds requires the approval of competition authorities.

Metso Drives is the world’s leading provider of drive systems for the pulp and paper industry and one of the leading manufacturers of wind turbine gears. The company also delivers a comprehensive service scope for its customer industries. Metso Drives has three business areas: Industrial Process Drives, Wind Turbine Gears and Service. Metso Drives’ net sales totalled EUR 157 million in 2004 and the company has some 890 employees in Finland, Germany, Canada, the US and Sweden. Personnel will continue as employees of Metso Drives. Key persons will be offered shares in the company in future.

”Metso Drives is a technically strong player with a good position in all three of its businesses. Metso has proactively developed the company’s business, and the existing platform is a solid base for continuing business development and strengthening market position in global markets,” says CapMan’s Senior Advisor Orvo Siimestö, who will be appointed as Chairman of the Board of Metso Drives.

Erkki Pylvänäinen will continue as President of Metso Drives: ”We anticipate that CapMan will deliver us with new opportunities and resources, as CapMan has historically grown the business of its portfolio companies organically and through M&As. Another key source of growth potential is continuing partnership with Metso.”

”For Metso, the divestiture is a strategic move,” says Jorma Eloranta, President and CEO of Metso Corporation. ”Metso Drives’ net sales and profitability improved favorably in 2004. Even so, we realized that the biggest growth potential for Metso Drives is in the wind turbine sector and other sectors, which are not part of Metso’s core businesses. Cooperation with Metso Drives and Metso’s businesses, particularly Metso Paper, will continue. We consider it important that Metso Drives continues to competitively develop products and services also for Metso’s needs.”

Press conference:
The media and analysts are invited to attend a press conference today 4 March 2005 at 10.30 a.m. in CapMan’s premises.
Time: Friday, 4 March 2005 at 10.30 a.m.
Address: Korkeavuorenkatu 32, Helsinki

For further information, please contact:
Mr Orvo Siimestö, Senior Advisor, CapMan, tel. +358 9 6155 8328
Mr Erkki Pylvänäinen, President, Metso Drives, tel. +358 204 84 7600
Mr Vesa Kainu, President, Metso Ventures, tel. +358 204 84 3258

About the companies:

CapMan Group

CapMan is one of the leading private equity investors in the Nordic countries and specialises in middle market buyouts in various industry sectors, technology investments in the IT and telecommunications sectors and investments in life science companies. The CapMan team comprises around 80 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. CapMan manages/advises Nordic funds with approx. EUR 1.3 billion in total capital. To date, the funds managed by CapMan have invested in 148 companies in the Nordic countries and exited from 70 companies. The latest investments are made in Swedish SciBase AB, Finnish Tokmanni Oy, Norwegian Locus AS and Danish Anhydro Group. CapMan Plc is listed on the Main List of the Helsinki Stock Exchange. www.capman.com

Metso Drives
Metso Drives was formed in 2001 from the merger of Valmet Power Transmission, Parkano Gears and Santasalo Ltd, and is one of the world's leading suppliers of mechanical power transmission equipment. The company designs, manufactures and sells mechanical drive systems for process and energy industries. Metso Drives’ core businesses are Industrial Process Drives, Wind Turbine Gears and Service. The company employs about 890 people in eight units. Metso Drives’ headquarters and major production plant are located in Jyväskylä, Finland, in addition to two production plants elsewhere in Finland, one in Germany and one in Canada. www.moventas.com

Metso Corporation
Metso is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems as well as know-how and aftermarket services for customers in the pulp and paper industry, rock and minerals processing, power, hydrocarbon and process industries, and panelboard production. Metso consists of four business areas: Metso Paper, Metso Minerals, Metso Automation and Metso Ventures, which includes Metso Drives. The Group’s net sales in 2004 totalled EUR 4 billion and it has some 23,000 employees in more than 50 countries. www.metso.com

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