On the 1st of June 2002 the Italian Bilanciai group takes over the operative business of the Pfister Waagen group in Augsburg along with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and EHP GmbH in Bühl. The managing director of the new "Pfister Waagen Bilanciai GmbH" will be Mr Leonardo Manzari, who was previoulsy responsible for the European sales of the Italian scale specialist. The headquarters of the new company will remain at the parent company in Augsburg/ Lechhausen. The employees have also been taken over.

For both the traditional Augsburg company and the Bilanciai group the agreement, signed this morning, is a consistent step, resulting from a successful sales coop venture established two years previously. According to the Pfister Holding managing director, Michael Kleisli, "Bilanciai's commitment is a stroke of luck for Pfister Waagen GmbH". Against the backdrop of increasingly difficult markets for industrial weighing systems, Kleisli envisages the best chances for the future in an association with a strong partner, whose core business is focused in the weighing sector. This was also one of the reasons for the decision to sell the scale division: Pfister's core business is centred on the sector of industrial dosing systems for the cement industry. Here, the expanding Pfister GmbH is actively successful both at a national and international level. Our full concentration and attention, continued Kleisli, may now be directed to the further growth of Pfister GmbH.

That Bilanciai is the right partner for the Pfister Waagen group is proved by the market position of the company, which has been established since1949: In Europe itranks amongst the five major suppliers of weighing systems (turnover in 2001of over 50 mio. €), in the truck weighbridge sector, with over 1,500 systems sold annually Bilanciai is even market leader.

Daniele Sitta, board chairman of the Bilanciai group anticipates "considerable synergies" arising from the take-over. The European markets served up to the present by both companies as well as the products offered complement each other excellently, Bilanciai will moreover profit from Pfister's long experience in the sector of dynamic weighing systems.

Società Cooperativa Bilanciai

The Bilanciai Gruppe is a traditional Italian company, specialised in the development and production of weighing instruments and systems. Founded in 1949, the Bilanciai headquarters are located in Campogalliano in the Modena region. The Bilanciai group comprises 10 subsidiaries and coop partners with whom a turnover of over 50 mio. € in the financial year of 2001 was achieved. The Bilanciai groups develops, produces and sells truck weighbridges (steel and modular concrete weighbridges), platform scales, shop counter scales, crane scales, load cells as well as the accompanying weighing electronics. The main markets are located in Europe. In the truck weighbridge sector Bilanciai is the international market leader.

A substantial programme of investment is intended to safeguard the Bilanciai group's strong position in Europe and it extend it further. Considerable investments in research and development are planned as is the sourcing of competent coop partners capable of complementing Bilanciai's product portpolio effectively.

The Bilanciai group employs a workforce of 500 in Europe. Chairman of the board is Daniele Sitta.

Company address:
Società Cooperativa Bilanciai Campogalliano a.r.l.
Via S. Ferrari, 16
I – 41011 Campogalliano (MO)
www.coopbilanciai.it



PFISTER Holding

The traditional Augsburg company, PFISTER has been owned by the Danish group FLS Industries A/S since 1998. Pfister Holding presently comprises Pfister GmbH (dosing systems) with all foreign branches and Pfister Services GmbH.
FLS is one of the largest groups quoted on the stock exchange with over 13,500 employees and a turnover of 2.6 thousand million €.