Solvay Acquisition Pays Off for MANN+HUMMEL in N.A.

DETROIT, March 3 -- MANN+HUMMEL's acquisition of Solvay's automotive air-induction systems and technical parts business last year is sparking a major expansion of the company's operations in North America.

The acquisition has combined two highly complementary customer bases and also given MANN+HUMMEL Group a leading share of the global market for automotive intake manifolds.

Solvay's air-induction and technical parts division had annual sales of more than $150 million with 1,100 employees at eight locations around the world, including a major facility in South Bend, Indiana. Its product range included air induction systems, as well as various related under-the-hood components.

With the business acquired from Solvay, MANN+HUMMEL's North American automotive sales now total $117 million annually. Employment has grown from 400 to 550, while sales have nearly doubled. The company has its U.S. corporate headquarters along with manufacturing, product development and research facilities in Portage, MI. Sales and program management offices are located in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills.

The integration of Solvay's worldwide manufacturing plants, research-and- development facilities and other operations into the MANN+HUMMEL organization is ahead of schedule and already has resulted in significant synergies in overhead, according to Dr. Dieter Seipler, CEO of the MANN+HUMMEL Group.

MANN+HUMMEL has taken advantage of Solvay's highly capable management team by moving top Solvay executives into leadership positions within the new organization. They include Claude Mathieu, a former managing director at Solvay, who now is president and CEO of the company's North American operations. Joel Marion, another senior Solvay executive, is COO of the U.S. automotive operations.

Seipler notes that MANN+HUMMEL's philosophy of valuing all of Solvay's "corporate assets" is paying off in other ways as well.

"The integration has been successful, especially in North America, because we've had a very positive approach from the start," adds Mathieu. "It hasn't been a matter of cutting expenses and imposing MANN+HUMMEL's procedures throughout the new organization. We've identified best practices across the two companies and applied them wherever appropriate."

For example, MANN+HUMMEL was impressed by the effectiveness of Solvay's blow-molding operations. "We benchmarked those operations and decided they were best-in-class. We now are implementing those practices throughout the rest of the company," says Richard Dishaw, director of sales and business development for MANN+HUMMEL AUTOMOTIVE in Bloomfield Hills.

While both companies produced intake manifolds, one of Solvay's specialties was a plastic blow-molding process for air ducts. "It's a new technology that allows us to go beyond what we were doing in that market," Dishaw says. "It allows us to do a better job of designing and integrating entire air-induction modules and systems."

Dr. Seipler also points out that there was little overlap in the two companies' customer bases. For example, Solvay had an especially strong presence in France, where MANN+HUMMEL had a much smaller market share. And while MANN+HUMMEL has a long history of supplying Ford Motor Company in North America, Solvay had an especially strong relationship with General Motors.

About MANN+HUMMEL

The MANN+HUMMEL Group is an international company. In 2002, the company achieved sales of approximately $1.1 billion. The MANN+HUMMEL Group currently employs around 9,500 people at 41 locations worldwide. The company develops, produces and sells technically complex automotive components such as air filter systems, intake manifold systems, liquid filter systems and cabin filters for the automotive industry, and filter elements for vehicle servicing and repair. For general engineering, process engineering and industrial manufacturing sectors the company's product range includes industrial filters, filter systems, and materials handling systems and equipment. MANN+HUMMEL's customers come from a large number of sectors, with OEM supply for the automotive industry occupying a key position. Further information about MANN+HUMMEL can be found under http://www.mann-hummel.com/ .