Press Releases 2004

October 11, 2004
Further expansion of services business: Bilfinger Berger acquires DiPro Professional Property Services

Bilfinger Berger has taken another major step in the targeted expansion of its services activities by acquiring DiPro Professional Property Services GmbH from ThyssenKrupp. DiPro, an economically successful company specializing in commercial facility management, had €16 million in output volume in the last financial year as part of ThyssenKrupp's facility management operation. The ambitious earnings target that Bilfinger Berger has set for its services business will be met in full, and DiPro will make an immediate contribution to Bilfinger Berger's net profit. The purchase price will not be disclosed.

DiPro, which has 120 employees and is active across Germany, specializes in taking charge of facility management for entire real estate portfolios. DiPro's wide-ranging expertise in commercial facility management, in particular, will strengthen the property services activities of the Bilfinger Berger Group. In Germany the Group will increase its output volume in this business to more than €400 million in the coming fiscal year, making Bilfinger Berger one of the market leaders in highly demanding technical and commercial facility management.

The services business built up by Bilfinger Berger since 2002 will deliver about one quarter of the Group’s total output volume this year, and increase its contribution to operating profit to about half the Group total. The Bilfinger Berger acquisition strategy has been a success, with all the companies purchased as part of the Group’s strategic refocus contributing positively, as expected, to net profit. In this way, operating earnings are more than compensating for contributions to earnings from former financial shareholdings - a development that will be continued into the future.