Elster Announces CFO Transition

ESSEN, Germany, Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Elster (NYSE: ELT) announced today that, following more than six years as chief financial officer (CFO) of Elster, with accomplishments that include a successful initial public offering, secondary offering and refinancing, substantial improvements in profitability, efficiency and working capital, and the establishment of core public company infrastructure, Christoph Schmidt-Wolf plans to leave Elster at the end of March.

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"Christoph's exceptional record of delivering results with steady and robust revenue growth across the business and strong fiscal discipline speaks for itself," said Simon Beresford-Wylie, chief executive officer (CEO) of Elster.

"He has guided the company through the transition from private equity ownership onto the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly traded company and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours," Beresford-Wylie added. 

Mr. Schmidt-Wolf will be succeeded as CFO by Mr. Rainer Beaujean.  Mr. Beaujean will join Elster on February 1, 2012 and will formally take over as CFO in early March 2012, thereby providing for a two month transition period.

Mr. Beaujean has spent the past five years as CFO and member of the management board of Demag Cranes AG. Demag Cranes AG, with 2010/2011 financial year revenues of more than 1.06 billion Euros, is one of the world's leading providers of industrial cranes, crane components, mobile harbor cranes and port automation technology and was a MDAX listed company on the Frankfurt stock exchange until the takeover by Terex Industrial Holdings in August 2011.

Prior to Demag Cranes AG, Mr. Beaujean served six years at T-Online International AG, Europe's largest internet services provider, and the second largest worldwide. He was the CFO of T-Online International AG for four years before being appointed CEO. Mr. Beaujean left T-Online International AG after the merger with Deutsche Telekom AG in 2006.

Mr. Beaujean started his business career with Deutsche Telekom AG, one of the world's leading telecommunications and information technology service companies. Mr. Beaujean worked in various senior finance functions at Deutsche Telekom before he was appointed as CFO of T-Online International AG.

"Rainer's deep global experience leading publicly listed industrial manufacturing and technology solutions companies will be an outstanding addition to Elster as we continue to see dynamic growth opportunities in gas, electricity and water around the world," Beresford-Wylie said.

"He brings a history of successful focus on process, growth and shareholder value, all of which fit precisely with our approach at Elster as we enter our second year as a public company," Beresford-Wylie added.

"Elster has a 175 year track record of excellence and innovation and has today emerged as a very well positioned, growing public company establishing vital connections between gas, electric and water customers and the communities they serve," Beaujean said.

"I look forward to joining Simon and the outstanding Elster senior management and finance teams as we enter a period of focus on applying technology solutions to resource conservation around the world," Beaujean added.

Mr. Beaujean will be a managing director of the company and member of Elster's group executive board. It is also intended to propose the appointment of Mr. Beaujean as member of the Company's administrative board at the next Annual General Meeting.

About Elster

Elster (NYSE: ELT) is one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers. Its offerings include distribution monitoring and control, advanced smart metering, demand response, networking and software solutions, and numerous related communications and services – key components for enabling consumer choice, operational efficiency and conservation. Its products and solutions are widely used by utilities in the traditional and emerging Smart Grid markets.

Elster has one of the most extensive installed revenue measurement bases in the world, with more than 200 million metering devices deployed over the course of the last 10 years. It sells its products and services in more than 130 countries across electricity, gas, water and multi-utility applications for residential, commercial and industrial, and transmission and distribution applications.

For more information about Elster, please visit www.elster.com.

SOURCE Elster