Deinze, Belgium – February 27, 2007

Bekaert, the global partner for progress in providing rotatable magnetron solutions, today announced the appointment of Mr. Kenji Yamamoto as Application Engineer for the Asian market.

Bekaert has continually expanded its presence in the Asian market since the 1990s. The company has strengthened its position as the market leader by being a total solutions provider and proactively addressing market and customer demands. Yamamoto's appointment underscores Bekaert's current strategy to address the opportunities presented by the conversion from planar to rotatable technology in various market segments.

In his role as Application Engineer, Yamamoto will focus on supporting the high-growth large area glass market in Asia. An innovative and experienced problem-solver, Yamamoto will be responsible for translating customer needs into concepts for application-specific sputter products. Yamamoto will also handle the validation and implementation process of the sputter products into the customer's application. Mr. Yamamoto will be operating from the Tokyo office.

Prior to joining Bekaert, Kenji Yamamoto worked at ALPS Electric Co., Ltd, and contributes 14-years of technology development experience. He attained the title of Team Leader and his responsibilities included directing and implementing programs, managing research projects, and providing high-level technical support for the sales division and customers. Yamamoto began his career as an engineer at Kawatetsu Mining Co., Ltd, where he worked on a number of successful design and research projects.

Kenji Yamamoto received a B.S., Applied Physics from the Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo Faculty of Science.

Contact details:

For more information, please contact

Mr. Koen Staelens,

Product Market Manager Bekaert,

Ph: +32 (0)9 381 61 61 94,

e-mail: koen.staelens@bekaert.com

Visit the website at www.bekaert.com/bac