EU Commission clears Tetra Laval acquisition

On July 25, 2005, the European Commission approved Tetra Laval’s acquisition of Simonazzi from the SIG Group.

Present in 20 countries, Simonazzi designs, produces and sells filling and labelling equipment in addition to complete bottling lines for packaging liquid foods in plastic and glass bottles as well as drink cans. Simonazzi posted sales in 2004 of € 320 million and has 1,500 employees. Upon closing of the acquisition of Simonazzi, these activities will be integrated into Sidel, one of Tetra Laval’s three industry groups. Simonazzi complements and expands the activities of Sidel, particularly in the beer packaging sector. - We are very pleased that the European Commission so rapidly cleared this acquisition and will now move ahead to finalise the acquisition and start the integration of Simonazzi into Sidel, says Larry Pillard, Chairman of the Tetra Laval Group. Background: The Tetra Laval Group is a private held industrial group of Swedish origin, headquarted in Switzerland. Operational activities within Tetra Laval is organised into three autonomous industry groups, each group being world leader in its respective area: Tetra Pak develops and manufactures processing equipment and carton packaging systems for food products. DeLaval is a full-service supplier to dairy farmers. The company develops, manufactures and market equipment and complete systems for milk production and animal husbandry. Sidel develop and manufacture plastic packaging equipment. Its services extend from the design of bottles to the engineering of complete bottling lines. More information to be found on www.tetralaval.com For further information, please contact Jörgen Haglind +46 708 36 46 10