PR Newswire/Les Echos/

PRESS RELEASE

                          A new name for Carbone Lorraine *

Paris, April 14, 2010

                 Carbone Lorraine is changing its name to MERSEN

Ernest Totino, Chairman of Carbone Lorraine's Management Board, is set to
propose a change in the Group's name at the forthcoming AGM on May 20.

A worldwide expert in high-performance materials for extreme environments and in
the reliability and safety of electrical installations, the Group intends to
change its name and revitalize its corporate identity to materialize its new
business profile.
Over the past few years, Carbone Lorraine has been pursuing a strategy based on
four growth drivers, i.e. sustainable development, Asia, selective acquisitions
and innovation.
This strategy is predicated on an international industrial and commercial
network that has recently been bolstered by new plants employing the latest
technologies.
At the heart of this transformation, the Group's teams have strengthened their
culture of expertise and developed dedicated solutions to stay even more closely
in touch with their customers' needs.

The Group's new corporate identity is rooted in its historical values: Mersen
has expertise, curiosity and an ability to innovate as its dominant genes, and a
human touch, reliability, a local approach right around the world and
responsibility as its core values.

This name change will focus teams' energy on a common goal. It will also help
Mersen to pursue its aim of being recognized as a leading industrial player in
all its markets (energy, transportation, electronics, chemicals/pharmaceuticals
and process industries) and particularly in alternative energies.

Ernest Totino commented: "Mersen materializes the corporate project of a Group
set on a new trajectory to become a key player in sustainable development. This
name change is not an end in itself, but part of a highly motivating and
galvanizing corporate project that aims to fashion a new identity predicated on
one mission, one goal, a clear vision and shared values. I firmly believe that
it will create value for our employees, our customers and our shareholders."

A new name for Carbone Lorraine encapsulating its personality and values

This new name is inspired by the historic personality of Marin Mersenne
(1588-1648), who made a significant contribution to technological progress in
his day. An influential, yet discreet man, Marin Mersenne was a mathematician,
philosopher and physician. A friend of Descartes, Hobbes and Gassendi and a
correspondent of Pascal, Fermat and Toricelli, he forged the first scientific
discussion network while conducting his own theoretical, but primarily practical
research work. An open-minded spirit and a man of integrity who made an
unostentatious contribution to technological progress, he was a companion to the
most advanced thinkers of his time.

It is also a name steeped in European history. Under the Treaty of Mersen (close
to Maastricht in the Netherlands) in 870, King Charles the Bald and Louis the
German, grandson of Charlemagne, divided up the land of their nephew Lothair II.
The borders set were a harbinger of what later became the Kingdom of France, the
Lorraine region and the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.

"Multiple areas of expertise, a single source of energy": a name with a human
touch above all else. What are the only inexhaustible resources that can be
counted on in the future? People, their knowledge and their inventiveness are
the Group's most crucial capital. From Mersen, an expert in many different
fields, flows an energy that it will harness to innovate and meet the needs of
its customers.

Mersen reflects the initials of the words Materials, Electricity, Research,
Sustainability and ENergy.

  The Group is listed at Premier Marché de la Bourse de Paris and is a part of
                             the following indices 
                        CAC Mid100, SBF120 et Next 150.
      Find Carbone Lorraine on Bloomberg: CRL FP and on Reuters: CBLP.PA

               Visit our Internet website www.carbonelorraine.com

Analyst and Investor Contact   Press Contact

Stéphanie Atellian             Publicis Consultants
VP Investor Relations          Vilizara Lazarova
Carbone Lorraine              
                               Tel.: +33 (0)1 57 32 86 46
Tel.: +33 (0)1 46 91 54 49     vilizara.lazarova@consultants.publicis.fr
dri@carbonelorraine.com

*subject to the approval of shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on
May 20, 2010
                      
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