Semcon and Caran create one of the world's largest technical consultancies

Semcon and Caran create one of the world's largest technical consultancies

Semcon has today agreed with the JCE Group about acquiring 100 per cent of the
shares in Caran AB, Caran Design Limited, A2 Acoustics AB and Caran Embedded
Intelligent Solutions AB. The takeover is expected to be carried out on 1
September 2007.

The purchase price is SEK 335 million, the same price that the JCE Group paid
when it acquired the companies from WM-data. The acquisition will give rise to
goodwill of around SEK 280 million.

The companies taken over have sales of around SEK 900 million and 1,000
employees. Sales for the first six months amounted to SEK 447 million with an
operating profit of SEK 29 million. Following the takeover the new Group will
have an estimated sales figure of SEK 3,400 million a year and a headcount of
3,800 in 15 countries on five continents.  

The new Group will be one of the world's largest suppliers of technical
development services to the automotive industry, both for cars and trucks, and
can well meet the demands placed by our global clients. The automotive industry
today is faced with extensive development projects with intensive demands on new
models and platforms. We now have even greater opportunities of being part of
the major development assignments that companies outsource to their partners.  
The Caran acquisition also means that we expand our services to the engineering
industry, where we will be one of the biggest in the Nordic region. 

The strategy behind the Caran acquisition, and previously IVM Automotive, is to
create a larger global business, partly to gain larger and more complex
technical assignments and partly to be on-site where our clients are. 

“It's a fantastically exciting challenge to have the chance of creating a
global, technical consultancy, based in Sweden,” says Semcon's Chairman, Kjell
Nilsson. 

Synergies and savings
The deal also includes major opportunities for savings, including through
utilising the possibilities that joint IT systems and premises give. Semcon and
Caran's businesses will be co-ordinated in various places, including Sweden and
the UK. The total savings are estimated to be around SEK 40 million and the deal
will have a positive effect on results in 2007. 





For more information, please contact:
Kjell Nilsson, Chairman, Semcon AB, +46 (0) 702 60 01 21
Björn Strömberg, acting CEO, Semcon AB, +46 (0) 708 35 44 80
Anders Atterling, IR manager, Semcon AB, +46 (0) 704 47 28 19

Semcon is 2 800 committed people with a passion for product development,
technical information and IT. Today, Semcon is in 14 countries on five
continents. Semcon has sales of around SEK 2.4 billion a year (2006) and is
listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's Nordic list.