We launch third annual "Best of European Business Award"

• The annual Best of European Business competition is held across eight of the European Union's largest economies
• Large and medium-sized enterprises will be honored for their outstanding performance in two categories: Profitable Growth; Outstanding value generation through cross-border M&A
• First national awards ceremonies will take place Spain and Poland on November 14, 2007
• All winners of national competitions are eligible for the European Grand Prix, to be awarded at the European Business Summit on February 21, 2008

The competition will be held in eight of the European Union's strongest economies – Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and the UK. Companies are selected based on publicly available data analyzed by Roland Berger Strategy Consulting experts. A shortlist of candidates for the awards is presented to a high-level jury in each of the participating countries, which determines the winners of the national prizes. This year's award categories are "Profitable Growth" and "Value generation through Mergers & Acquisitions". In addition, some countries will present an award winner in a separate category as they see fit, i.e. "Best performance in transatlantic business relations" in the German competition. Both a large and a medium-sized company will receive a prize in each of the categories.

Winners of the national competitions are eligible for the pan-European BEB prize to be presented in the context of the annual 'European Business Summit' in Brussels, initiated by BusinessEurope, the federation of European industry. This high-level event on February 21, 2008 brings together more than 3,000 business and political leaders for a two-day conference entitled 'Greening the Economy – New energy for business'.

BEB is being realized in close cooperation with international news leader CNN and leading European business media including The Times (UK), Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy), Jornal de Negocios (Portugal), Enjeux/Les Echos (France), Financial Times Deutschland and 'manager magazin' (Germany).

The first two of the national awards ceremonies will take place on November 14, 2007 in Poland and Spain. Winners will be announced to the press on the evening of the ceremonies in each country. Other national events will follow in early 2008, with the German awards ceremony to take place in Berlin's Allied Museum, which will host a roundtable discussion on the future of EU-US business relations and the formal presentation of the awards.

For additional information on the Best of European Business competition, please consult our webpage:www.best-of-european-business.com.