WOLVERHAMPTON, UK (July 12, 2002) - Flint Ink Corporation and German ink manufacturer, Gebr. der Schmidt GmbH, announce the successful closing of their merger and acquisition, which was first presented to the public on 9 April at IPEX, in Birmingham, England. Flint Ink's European operations and Gebr. Schmidt have now combined to form Flint-Schmidt GmbH & Co. KG, one of the largest ink companies in Europe. Headquartered in Frankfurt/Main, the new Flint-Schmidt organization also has a significant market share in Germany, employs a combined workforce of approximately 1,400, and has revenues of approximately 450 million. As part of the agreement, Gebr. Schmidt's operations in Canada were acquired and will immediately become part of Flint Ink North America. Jim Mahony, President of Flint Ink Europe, now serves as Chief Executive Officer of Flint-Schmidt and is responsible for driving the integration of the company. Dr. Helmut Schmidt, who was Managing Director and a principal shareholder of Gebr. Schmidt GmbH is now Chief Operating Officer of the combined organization. "Our global customer base will benefit from our companies' combined resources and economies of scale," says Mahony. "Together we will concentrate on serving all our customers with a special focus on the eastern European region, where we see considerable opportunity for growth." Dr. Schmidt adds, "Our company is now in a strategic position to gain a significant share of the European market. The rapid closure of this merger and acquisition underscores our continuing commitment to focus on providing customers with solutions that enable them to gain a competitive advantage." Founded in 1920, Flint Ink offers a comprehensive range of flexographic, sheetfed, web offset, gravure, UV/EB curable, and digital inks. Operations are organized into six geographic regions: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia/Pacific and CDR Pigments & Dispersions. Flint Ink operates nearly 100 facilities worldwide. It employed approximately 4000 people and had sales in excess of US$1 billion dollars prior to the merger. Gebrder Schmidt GmbH was founded in 1878. The company is headquartered in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, and maintains facilities outside Germany in Austria, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, Canada and China. Products include inks for sheetfed offset, web offset heatset, newspaper, publication gravure, flexo and gravure packaging, UV and EB-cure, and security and banknote printing. The company has approximately 1000 employees, and annual sales of Ä 250 million.