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RUEIL-MALMAISON, France and WEST KINGSTON, R.I., Feb. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- Schneider Electric (Euronext: SCHN) announced today the completion of the
acquisition of American Power Conversion Corporation (Nasdaq: APCC) (APC)
following satisfaction of the closing conditions of the merger agreement.
The combination of APC and MGE UPS SYSTEMS creates a worldwide leader in the
critical power and cooling services market, offering the widest set of
products, solutions and services. The combined operations have well balanced
geographical positions, strong innovation capabilities and unparalleled access
to market channels.
Under the terms of the acquisition, each share of APC common stock is converted
to the right to receive US $31.00 in cash. The total amount to be paid in cash
to APC shareholders represents approximately US $6.1 billion in exchange for
all outstanding shares of APC. Trading in APC's common stock on the Nasdaq
Global Select Market will cease at the end of trading hours on Wednesday,
February 14, 2007.
"The combination of APC and MGE will generate value for our customers through a
large choice of tailored solutions, a global services network and a large
technical expertise. It will also enhance value creation for our shareholders
by leveraging the complementary characteristics of both companies and
extracting synergies," noted Jean-Pascal Tricoire, President and CEO of
Schneider Electric. "We are now ready to greatly strengthen Schneider Electric
in the fast growing segment of Critical Power and Cooling and we are extremely
confident in the combined talents of the APC and MGE people to achieve this."
"The APC team is excited to join with Schneider Electric and MGE UPS SYSTEMS.
Together, our focus on the customer and on innovation will be stronger than
ever as we partner with our worldwide customers to help them solve
unprecedented powering and cooling challenges," said Rob Johnson, former
President and Chief Executive Officer of APC.
"APC and MGE within Schneider Electric is a powerful combination, offering our
customers the largest choice of solutions and services, bringing together the
broadest service organization, the industry's best known brands and the
strongest technologies," commented Claude Graff, President of MGE UPS SYSTEMS.
About American Power Conversion
Founded in 1981, American Power Conversion (Nasdaq: APCC) (APC) is a leading
provider of global, end-to-end solutions for real-time infrastructure. APC's
comprehensive products and services for home and corporate environments improve
the availability, manageability and performance of sensitive electronic,
network, communication and industrial equipment of all sizes. APC offers a wide
variety of products for network-critical physical infrastructure including
InfraStruXure(R), its revolutionary architecture for on-demand data centers, as
well as physical threat management products through the company's NetBotz(R)
division. These products and services help companies increase the availability
and reliability of their IT systems. Headquartered in West Kingston, Rhode
Island, APC reported sales of $2 billion for the year ended December 31, 2005,
and is a Fortune 1000, Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 Company. All trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.
About MGE UPS SYSTEMS
MGE UPS SYSTEMS, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, is a world leader for
intelligent power protection solutions for business continuity. MGE's offer is
designed to provide its customers with total protection throughout the lifetime
of their mission-critical installations. It includes the MGE PowerServices(TM)
program, the largest factory-direct service organization in the world, a full
range of equipment: uninterruptible power supplies, static transfer switches,
harmonic filters, and advanced power management solutions. MGE's 3500 experts
and their partners guarantee the excellence of MGE UPS SYSTEMS products and
services in more than 100 countries.
MGE UPS SYSTEMS has received the Frost & Sullivan "UPS Company of the year"
in 2005 & 2006. www.mgeups.com
About Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is the world's power and control specialist. Through its
world-class brands, Merlin Gerin, Square D and Telemecanique, Schneider
Electric anticipates and satisfies its customers' requirements in the
residential, building, industry and energy and infrastructure markets. With
105,000 employees and operations in 190 countries, Schneider Electric generated
sales of euro 13.7 billion in 2006 through 15,000 distributor outlets.
www.schneider-electric.com
Schneider Electric: Giving the best of the New Electric World to everyone,
everywhere, at any time
Forward-looking statements
This document may contain forward-looking statements. Various known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences
between the actual future results, financial situation, development or
performance of Schneider Electric or American Power Conversion and the
information contained in this release. These factors include the inability to
integrate successfully American Power Conversion within Schneider Electric or
to realize synergies from such integration; costs related to the acquisition of
American Power Conversion; the economic environment of the industries in which
Schneider Electric and American Power Conversion operate; and other risk
factors discussed in Schneider Electric's public reports registered with
Autorite des Marches Financiers and in American Power Conversion's public
reports filed with the SEC. Schneider Electric and American Power Conversion
assume no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to
conform them to future events or developments.
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