FCC will pay 480 million euro to acquire up to 80.7% of Austria's second-largest construction and services group.

This is FCC's third investment in Central and Eastern Europe following the recent acquisitions of ASA and SmVAK.

FCC has acquired 74.76% of Alpine Mayreder Bau, Austria's second-largest construction and services group, which has been controlled to date by the Pappas family. The acquisition of another 5.94% held by Erste Bank is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

FCC, which is controlled by Esther Koplowitz, will further its international development strategy by integrating Alpine Mayreder, a construction and services group which complements its recent acquisitions in Austria (ASA) and the Czech Republic (SmVAK) to create a 'springboard for expansion' in Central and Eastern Europe.

The enterprise value of 100% of Alpine is 725 million euro (including 130 million euro of net debt).

The deal was assisted by the existing affinity with Alpine, which is already working with FCC Construction on toll roads in Serbia, and the Austrian company's superb record of growth in recent years; Alpine has a solid, professional management team which shares FCC's strategic vision of Eastern Europe.

Description of Alpine

Alpine operates in construction and industrial services.

With an estimated 2.013 billion euro in revenues in 2006 and projected EBITDA of 115 million euro, it operates directly and through subsidiaries in Austria, Germany and Eastern Europe.

Civil engineering accounts for 47% of revenues, building for 35%, industrial services (Alpine Energy) for 9%, and the other 9% comes from other services. By markets, Austria and Germany together provide 73% of revenues, Eastern Europe provides 25%, and 2% is obtained on other continents.

In construction, Alpine is a leading specialist in underground work, including the new Saint Gotthard tunnel through the Alps (over 50 km. long) and the extension of Singapore Metro. Alpine also built the Allianz Arena in Munich, a site of the recent World Cup.

Alpine was recently selected as preferred bidder, in consortium with Hochtief, for a 32-year concession to build and operate the A5 toll road between Vienna and the border with the Czech Republic. Construction of this project will cost 970 million euro.

Once the award is confirmed, Alpine's backlog will total approximately 2.8 billion euro.

In the area of industrial services, Alpine Energy provides installation and maintenance services for transportation networks, substations, installations and civil work for energy and communications. It is particularly active in Central and Eastern Europe.

Alpine provides other services, such as raw material recovery, management of sports and recreational facilities, design of communications systems, test laboratories, overhead lines, and managing water purification plants and hospitals.

Founded in 1965, Alpine began to expand rapidly in the 1990s by acquiring Kaps Reiter, Mayreder and Ferro-Betonit. In 2000, it acquired Universale to configure the current Alpine Mayreder Bau, a group with over 8,500 employees.

The group attained over 17% average annual growth between 2000 and 2005.

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