Mannheim, October 2, 2006 — Shearman & Sterling acted as issuer’s counsel to CropEnergies AG, formerly a fully owned subsidiary of Südzucker AG Mannheim/Ochsenfurt, in its initial public offering. The transaction is the first IPO of a European company that is purely concentrating on the production of bioethanol.

For the placement of the 25 million ordinary shares, which resulted from a capital increase of CropEnergies, an issuing price of EUR 8,00 per share was determined. During the offering period of four days all ordinary shares resulting from the capital increase were placed at a total of EUR 200 million.

Listing commenced on September 29, 2006 at the Prime Standard at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. With approximately 71 percent Mannheim based Südzucker AG, the largest European sugar producer, remains the majority shareholder of CropEnergies after the IPO.

Südzucker AG and CropEnergies AG were advised by the following Shearman & Sterling lawyers: partners Martin Winter (M&A/Corporate, Mannheim) and Stephan Harbarth (M&A/Corporate, Capital Markets, Mannheim) as well as Thomas Nägele (Intellectual Property, Mannheim) and Johannes Frey (Tax, Frankfurt) and the associates Nicolas Ott (M&A/Corporate, Mannheim), Daniela Leyh (Capital Markets, Frankfurt), Yvonne Grünert (Tax, Frankfurt), Joachim Grittmann (M&A/Corporate, Mannheim) and Jochen Bader (German Lawyer, M&A/Corporate, Mannheim) as well as of counsel Kristian Fischer.

For additional information contact:
Marcus Brans | Düsseldorf | T +49.211.17888.907 |

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