Papierfabrik August Koehler establishes new subsidiary Koehler Renewable Energy in Germany

OBERKIRCH, Germany, Feb. 1, 2012 (Press Release) - On January 23, 2012 the directors of Koehler Holding GmbH & Co. KG and the management board of Papierfabrik August Koehler AG (Oberkirch) established a new subsidiary of Koehler Holding GmbH & Co. KG and filed for its entry in the trade register. The company's name is Koehler Renewable Energy GmbH, and its purpose is the founding of renewable-energy companies, as well as the purchase and management of investments in other renew-able-energy companies.

The Koehler Group runs an energy-intensive enterprise that has been investing in its own energy supplies for many years now. As a result, Koehler now operates power plants at all its locations, many of which have been the subject of expansion and new investment in recent years. For instance, at Oberkirch there is a circulating fluidized-bed combustion power sta-tion and a cold reserve, commissioned in 2011, plus four hydroelectric power stations. At Kehl Koehler operates a biomass CHP plant, with a second block commissioned in 2011 in a joint venture with RWE Innogy, while a new power station with highly efficient combined heat and power generation was inaugurated at Greiz (Thüringen) in 2011, and two further hydroe-lectric power plants were opened at Weisenbach.

The founding of Koehler Renewable Energy GmbH represents the latest major step in this direction. The aim is to work together with business partners in project companies, investing above all in combined heat and power generation in order to develop a new line of business by exploiting our outstanding in-house expertise in operating this kind of plant. We are also planning to invest in wind energy.

We are currently engaged in highly promising exploratory talks with potential business part-ners, and acquisition offers have already been made for various projects.