Press Release

Honsel Settles Long Lasting Judicial Appraisal Proceedings Relating to its Take- Private in 1999

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP’s Munich Office Acts as Advisor to Honsel Leichtmetall GMBH & Co. KG

MUNICH, GERMANY, April 4, 2005 – HONSEL LEICHTMETALL GMBH & CO. KG, the former Honsel AG, settled the judicial appraisal proceedings initiated by minority shareholders following the conversion of its legal form from a listed stock corporation into a limited partnership.

In 1999, by acquisition of Honsel AG and conversion of its legal form, The Carlyle Group completed the first-ever take-private by a private equity fund in Germany.

Carlyle recently sold its interest in Honsel to Ripplewood Holdings, another private equity firm.

HONSEL LEICHTMETALL GMBH & CO. KG operates globally in the light metal manufacturing industry and is focused on the automotive sector. Honsel is a European market leader for automotive light metal parts and is a supplier to major automotive companies including DaimlerChrysler, Audi, Volvo, PSA, ZF and BMW.

HONSEL LEICHTMETALL GMBH & CO. KG’ legal advisors with respect to the settlement have been:

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP (Dr. Norbert Rieger, Dr. Christoph Rothenfusser, Dr. Ulrike Dormann, all Corporate Munich)

Menold Bezler Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft (Dr. Michael Oltmanns, Stuttgart)

MILBANK IN EUROPE:
Milbank opened its first European office in London 25 years ago and opened a second European office in Frankfurt in 2001 and Munich in 2004. The firm’s presence in Europe has more than doubled in the last two years, with growing strengths in corporate, capital markets, private equity, outsourcing and litigation.

The firm’s Global Corporate/M&A Group has worked on some of the most sophisticated transactions in every geographical market. Milbank’s London office has been involved in some of the most complex acquisitions and private equity investments in Europe. The Frankfurt office is a leader in sophisticated cross-border lease and acquisition finance transactions. The Munich office is widely recognized for its expertise in public M&A and private equity, as well as tax and financial structuring. Notable Milbank deals in Germany include:

• Representing ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG in connection with its take over of all interests in EUVÍA Media AG & Co. KG.
  
  

• Advising on the shareholder agreements, transaction structure and tax issues in the acquisition of HT Troplast AG by private equity firms The Carlyle Group and Advent International.
  
  

• Representing BC Partners in connection with the exit from its 48.9% stake in KTM Group GmbH.
  
  

• Representing Apax Partners in its leveraged buyout of LR International.
  
  

• Representing JP Morgan Partners in the sale of its stake in Gerresheimer Glas.
  
  

• Representing the Carlyle Group in the sale of its stake in BERU AG to Borg Warner.
  
  

• Representing the Carlyle Group in the sale of its stake in Honsel International Technologies to Ripplewood Holdings.
  
  

• Representing the private equity sponsors in the €2.7 billion Acquisition by Kabel Deutschland GmbH of three separate German cable companies (ish, iesy and Kabel Baden-Württemberg).
  
  

• €2.6 Billion Leveraged Buyout of Cognis Group: The LBO of the specialty chemicals business of the German company Henkel was completed in record time by employing many of the techniques pioneered in the earlier Messer Griesheim LBO. Recently, Cognis completed an innovative €1.6 billion recapitalization.
  
  

• Representing the Goldman Sachs private equity funds in their participation in the €1.8 billion LBO of the broadband cable network of Deutsche Telekom AG and the creation of Kabel Deutschland GmbH.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a global law firm headquartered in New York, with offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Palo Alto, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. Milbank is a recognized leader in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and corporate finance, project finance, acquisition finance and other major fields of legal practice. Milbank has English, German and U.S. law capabilities, and provides a full range of services to many of the world’s leading financial, industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as governments, institutions and individuals.