Takeover in the photovoltaics field Bosch publishes tender offer to ersol shareholders Acceptance period expires on August 8, 2008

· German Federal Antitrust Authority approves acquisition

· Further shareholding of nearly 28 percent acquired on the stock exchange

Stuttgart – Following approval by BaFin, the German Financial Supervisory Authority, Bosch has issued its tender offer document for the outstanding shares of ersol Solar Energy AG, Erfurt, Germany. Under the terms of the voluntary public takeover offer, the purchase price is 101.00 euros per share. The offer period starts today, and is scheduled to expire on August 8, 2008. Bosch announced its plan to acquire ersol at the beginning of June.

The German antitrust authorities have already given their unqualified approval to the acquisition of ersol by Bosch. The approval of other antitrust authorities is still pending. The takeover offer, as well as the acquisition of 50.45 percent of the shares from the majority shareholder Ventizz, cannot be consummated until this approval is granted. Other shareholders holding a 3.56 percent stake in ersol have already undertaken to sell their shares to Bosch once the tender offer is made. In addition, Bosch has already acquired a further 27.72 percent of the shares in ersol on the stock exchange.

Subject to the decision of the supervisory board of ersol Solar Energy AG, and following acquisition of a majority shareholding, Holger von Hebel and Dr. Volker Nadenau are to be appointed members of the ersol board of management. Von Hebel is currently Senior Vice President Finance and Controlling in the Bosch Packaging Technology division. Nadenau is Vice President of the Bosch Business Development Team Photovoltaics. Von Hebel is to succeed Dr. Claus Beneking, the current chairman of the board of management, when he retires. Dr. Beneking announced at the beginning of June that he would be standing down as chairman for personal reasons in the next few months, but will remain associated with ersol in a consultative capacity. The other members of the board of management are Ekhard von Dewitz, Jürgen Pressl and Peter Schneidewind.

Expansion of renewable energy business
ersol Solar Energy AG develops, manufactures, and sells wafer-based silicon solar cells, and is moving into the manufacture of thin-film modules. Worldwide, this photovoltaics company generated sales of 160 million euros in 2007. For 2008, ersol expects its sales to exceed 300 million euros. The company currently employs some 1,000 associates at three locations.

With this acquisition, Bosch hopes to strengthen its business in the area of renewable energies. Bosch is already active in the market with many systems for utilizing renewable energies. With its existing activities in this area, it plans to generate sales of some 750 million euros in 2008. Bosch Rexroth, for example, supplies gear and drive technology for wind turbines, develops efficient drive concepts for the still young sector of marine energy generation, and supplies hydraulic adjusting systems for solar thermal power stations. In addition, Bosch Thermotechnology has become the market leader in the rapidly growing market for electric heat pumps, and is also a leading manufacturer of solar collectors for hot-water generation.