Mortsel (Belgium), 19 April 2001 - The Board of Management of Agfa-Gevaert N.V. announced that Schroder Ventures, one of the worlds largest investment companies, is interested in acquiring Agfa's photo activities. Agfa-Gevaerts management today informed the personnel about the current state of affairs of the negotiations with Schroder Ventures. Both parties are currently in intensive negotiations on the take-over of the divisions Film, Finishing, Lab Equipment and Consumer Digital Imaging. If the negotiations should present a positive result, the acquisition will include the concerned divisions with all their production sites and employees, including the world-wide sales departments. At this moment the outcome of the negotiations is still open. However, Schroder Ventures as well as Agfa strives to reach a final result as soon as possible. Schroder Ventures is a leading European private equity specialist. Currently the company administers 25 closed end funds world-wide for a total of over US $ 7.0 billion. In May 2000 Schroder Ventures raised its second European fund - a 3.5 billion Euros fund. Schroder Ventures mainly invests in industrial companies and invested among others in the photo company Ferrania.