APW Ltd. Successfully Completes Recapitalization; Emerges from Prepackaged Chapter 11 Proceeding.

Business Editors

ST. MICHAEL, Barbados--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2002

APW Ltd., a leading Technically Enabled Manufacturing Services ("TEMS") company, announced today that it has successfully completed its Plan of Reorganization and has emerged from its voluntary prepackaged Chapter 11 proceeding. APW's Plan of Reorganization, which was overwhelmingly accepted by the holders of the Company's senior credit facilities, was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on July 23, 2002, clearing the way for today's emergence. APW's balance sheet has been recapitalized through the conversion of approximately $585 million, or 85%, of its debt into equity. In addition, the Company has obtained a new $110 million working capital facility, providing it with substantial liquidity.

The new equity ownership of APW is led by Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based investment management and buyout firm with approximately $25 billion of assets under management, and West Register (Investments) Limited, which together now own approximately 66% of the fully diluted shares. The new equity owners endorse APW's business strategy and have supported the efforts of APW's management team throughout the reorganization process.

Despite the distraction of the reorganization process, APW's business results have improved as both sales and cash flow increased sequentially during the most recent quarter ended May 31, 2002. This improvement has largely been due to the Company's success in retaining its customer base and continuing to win new programs. Additionally, APW has attracted new customers such as Lam Research and GE Medical Systems.

"The recapitalization significantly strengthens APW's balance sheet and provides us with the right capital structure to fuel our growth," commented Rick Carroll, APW's Chief Financial Officer. "We have in excess of $20 million of cash on our balance sheet in addition to substantial borrowing availability under our new $110 million credit facility. We are now well positioned to support the global needs of our existing customers when their markets begin to grow and prospective customers as we continue to win new business opportunities".

Richard G. Sim, Chairman, President and CEO of APW, commented: "Oaktree Capital Management was attracted to APW because of our unique positioning in the markets we serve and because of our superior product and service quality. We are exclusively focused on helping our customers reduce their time-to-market by providing consistent support throughout the product lifecycle - from comprehensive design and prototype services through full-scale production. I believe that APW's customer loyalty over the past year reflects our demonstrated ability to create meaningful supply chain efficiencies for our customers. Looking ahead, we are excited about the opportunity to move forward aggressively with the support of our new investors, and are committed to providing our customers with the same high level of product and service quality to which they have grown accustomed."

Sim continued, "I want to thank all of our customers and suppliers for their continued support during the recapitalization process, as well as our devoted employees, who have worked extra hard to ensure that our world-class customer service never wavered."

About APW Ltd.

APW Ltd. is a Technically Enabled Manufacturing Services ("TEMS") company that designs and manufactures large, complex infrastructure products for OEMs in the communications, large enterprise hardware and Internet markets.

APW Ltd. has particular skills in the areas of designing and manufacturing enclosures, thermal management, power supplies and backplanes as well as core competencies in product and system design, integration and supply chain management. APW Ltd. operates in over 30 locations throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Safe Harbor Statement. Certain of the above comments represent forward-looking statements made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Management cautions that these statements are based on current estimates of future performance and are highly dependent upon a variety of factors, which could cause actual results to differ from these estimates. APW's results are also subject to general economic conditions, market conditions in the computer, semiconductor, telecommunications, and electronic industries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, the impact of events occurring September 11, 2001, continued market acceptance of APW's existing products and new product introductions, competitive product and pricing pressures, foreign currency risk, interest rate risk, APW's ability to access capital markets and APW's ability to continue to meet required debt covenants. See our Form 10-K and SEC filings for further information on risk factors.