Joint Venture between Mitsubishi Materials Corporation’s Powder Metal Group and Sinterstahl

On August 9, 2005, the two companies signed a joint venture agreement effective as of December 1, 2005. The name of the new holding company will be Plansee Mitsubishi Materials Global Sinter Holding S.A. and the new group will be more commonly known as PMG. "Our two companies fit together ideally, and our customers will benefit from our global presence. With our customers we will invest and grow in future key automobile markets. In addition, PMG will be the cutting edge of powder metallurgical innovation, which will translate into superior products for our customers!" says Masafumi Koga, PMG’s first president. To take full advantage of these opportunities, PMG will operate as a fully integrated global company. Michael Krehl, the new executive vice president, is emphasizing the importance of the integration process in realizing this goal: "The new PMG management is committed to fully integrate both companies. We have established a sales organization that will effectively facilitate serving customers across regions and product groups. We have also implemented internal best-practice-sharing and optimization processes as well as cultural exchange. Integration activities are already well underway and we will begin serving our customers as PMG immediately after December 1, 2005."