PR Newswire/Les Echos/

Press release

Schneider Electric reinforces its position in India for data centre racks and
enclosures

Rueil-Malmaison (France), January 7, 2011 - Schneider Electric, the global
specialist in energy management, announced today that it has signed an 
agreement to acquire a majority of the shares in APW President Systems Ltd. 
which designs and manufactures standard and customized racks and enclosure 
systems in India, serving in particular information technology and telecom 
end-users.

APW President Systems Ltd. has approximately 380 employees and generated sales
of INR 1.08 billion (approx. EUR18 million) for the twelve months ending
September 30, 2010. The Company has manufacturing facilities at Pune and
Bangalore and has a broad customer base with sales and marketing offices 
across India.

This acquisition is another milestone in Schneider Electric's development in
India. With APW President Systems Ltd., Schneider Electric is well positioned 
to capture opportunities in the fast growing Indian IT infrastructure market 
as well as in international markets, particularly in Asia Pacific and Middle 
East. The Group will also be able to tap the talent pool and increase its 
solutions execution capabilities from server rooms to extra large data 
centres.

Laurent Vernerey, Executive Vice-President of Schneider Electric's IT Business
commented: "APW President Systems Ltd brings to us the expertise to customize
racks and enclosures for our global data centre customer base. With this
acquisition, Schneider Electric becomes a leading Indian player in integrated
data center infrastructure solutions and further accelerates its development 
in the domain of data centres."

Schneider Electric proposes to acquire shares representing a maximum of 75% of
the share capital of the company by acquiring a minimum of 55% of the share
capital from the promoter shareholders of APW President Systems Ltd. and up to
20% of the share capital of the company pursuant to a mandatory open offer to 
be made to the other shareholders. Depending on the response to the open 
offer, additional shares can be acquired from the promoter shareholders, 
provided that the total number of shares acquired from the promoter 
shareholders, together with the shares acquired under the open offer do not 
exceed 75% of the share capital of the company. The maximum price payable by 
Schneider Electric for the shares to be acquired from the promoter 
shareholders is INR 195 per share (approx. EUR3.25 per share), which 
translates to INR 622 million (approx EUR 10 million) for 55% of shares from 
promoter shareholders. Pursuant to the open offer, the cost to acquire up to 
20% of the share capital will be in accordance with applicable Indian law.

The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and
satisfaction of conditions precedent. This acquisition is expected to meet
Schneider Electric's Return on Capital Employed criteria.

About Schneider Electric 
As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100
countries, Schneider Electric offers integrated solutions across multiple 
market segments, including leadership positions in energy and infrastructure,
industrial processes, building automation, and data centres/networks, as well 
as a broad presence in residential applications. Focused on making energy 
safe, reliable, and efficient, the company's 100,000 plus employees achieved 
sales of 15.8 billion euros in 2009, through an active commitment to help 
individuals and organizations "Make the most of their energy".
www.schneider-electric.com/company 

Safe Harbor
Statements contained in this press release regarding future events or actions
and all other statements in this announcement other than recitation of
historical facts are forward-looking statements. Statements contained in this
press release regarding the benefits of the acquisition, the business outlook,
the demand for the products and services, and all other statements in this
release other than recitation of historical facts are forward-looking
statements. Words such as "expect", "estimate", "project", "budget", 
"forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "may", "will", "could", "should",
"believes", "predicts", "potential", "continue", and similar expressions are 
intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking 
statements in this announcement involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, 
performance or achievements of events or actions to differ materially from 
results expressed or implied by this press release. Forward-looking statements
in this press release include, without limitation, forecasts of market growth,
future revenues, benefits of the proposed acquisition, expectations that the 
acquisition will be accretive to the results, future expectations concerning
growth of business, cost competitiveness and expansion of global reach 
following the acquisition, and other matters that involve known and unknown 
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels
of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results 
expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among
others: difficulties encountered in integrating businesses; uncertainties as
to the timing of the acquisition; the satisfaction of the closing conditions
to the transaction, including the receipt of regulatory approvals; whether 
certain market segments grow as anticipated. Actual results may differ 
materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this 
press release. This press release is not an offer to purchase or the 
solicitation of an offer to sell shares of APW President. Any offers to 
purchase or solicitation of offers to sell will be made only pursuant to a
formal offer made in accordance with Indian Takeover regulations as applicable
to public listed companies. Shareholders are strongly advised to read the 
terms of the offer carefully when they are available because they will contain
important information. Neither the offer to purchase will be made to, nor will
tenders pursuant to the offer to purchase be accepted from or on behalf of,
holders of shares in any jurisdiction in which making or accepting the offer 
to purchase would violate that jurisdiction's laws.

Investor Relations:               Press Contact:
Schneider Electric                Schneider Electric
Carina Ho                         Véronique Roquet Montegon

Phone : +33 (0) 1 41 29 83 29     Phone : +33 (0)1 41 29 70 76
Fax : +33 (0) 1 41 29 71 42       Fax : +33 (0)1 41 29 88 14
www.schneider-electric.com
ISIN : FR0000121972

Press Contact:
DGM
Michel Calzaroni
Olivier Labesse
Phone : +33 (0)1 40 70 11 89
Fax : +33 (0)1 40 70 90 46
                      
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