SGL Carbon : hat die Beteiligung an SGL Kümpers an den Joint-Venture-Partner Kümpers verkauft

01-10-2018

SGL Carbon has sold its shareholding in SGL Kümpers to the joint venture partner Kümpers

- Kümpers GmbH, Rheine, and Franz-Jürgen Kümpers acquired SGL Group's shareholding in the SGL Kümpers joint venture
- SGL Group's production of composites and composite components will now be concentrated at five sites in Germany and Austria
- The existing business relationship with Kümpers for the supply of carbon fibers will be continued cooperatively
- SGL Kümpers continues its present success story for customers in the wind and automotive industries

Wiesbaden, January 10, 2018. SGL Carbon SE has sold its 51% shareholding in the SGL Kümpers GmbH & Co. KG joint venture to Kümpers GmbH and Franz-Jürgen Kümpers. SGL Group will continue to supply carbon fibers, thereby maintaining its existing business relationship with Kümpers. The parties to the contract have agreed to keep the financial details confidential. The joint venture was founded in early 2007 for the production of high-performance materials like fabrics and braids based on carbon and glass fibers.

With the sale of the shares, SGL Group is optimizing its carbon fiber value chain in Germany and Austria by concentrating its expertise in the processing of carbon and glass fibers for composites and composite components within its Composites - Fibers & Materials (CFM) business unit at five sites. These are the three German sites in Meitingen, Wackersdorf (both Bavaria), and Willich (North Rhine-Westphalia), plus Ried and Ort in Austria's Innkreis region.

The transaction is part of the strategy to consolidate all key activities in the value chain - from carbon fibers and materials to components - under the roof and thus under the overall responsibility of SGL Group. The company recently announced its complete takeover of the former joint ventures SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers (SGL ACF) and BENTELER-SGL with the aim of expanding its capabilities to include solutions for carbon fiber manufacturing and processing as well as processes for serial production.

About the SGL Group - The Carbon Company

The SGL Group is a leading manufacturer worldwide of products and materials made from carbon. The extensive product portfolio ranges from carbon and graphite products, carbon fibers all the way through to composites. The SGL Group's core expertise comprises the control of high-temperature technologies as well as the deployment of many years' application and engineering know-how. This is used to exploit the company's wide materials base. These carbon-based materials combine a number of unique material properties such as very good conductivity of electricity and heat, resistance to heat and corrosion as well as lightweight construction coupled with high firmness. The level of demand for the SGL Group's high-performance materials and products is increasing due to the industrialization of the growth regions of Asia and Latin America and the ongoing substitution of traditional construction materials by new materials. The SGL Group's products are deployed in the automotive and chemicals industries as well as in the semiconductor, solar, LED industry segments and in the field of lithium-ion batteries. Carbon-based materials and products are also used in wind energy, aviation and space travel as well as in the defense industry.

With 32 production locations in Europe, North America and Asia as well as a service network in over 100 countries, the SGL Group is an enterprise with a global orientation. In the 2016 financial year, approx. 4,000 employees generated 769.8 million euros in sales revenue. Its Head Office is based in Wiesbaden / Germany.

Important note:

To the extent that our press release contains forward-looking statements, the latter are based on information that is available at present and on our current forecasts and assumptions. Forward-looking statements, by their very nature, entail known as well as unknown risks and uncertainties that may lead to actual developments and events differing substantially from the forward-looking assessments. Forward-looking statements must not be understood to be guarantees. Instead, future developments and events depend on a large number of factors; they comprise various risks and imponderables and are based on assumptions that may possibly turn out not to be appropriate. These include unforeseeable changes to fundamental political, economic, legal and societal conditions, particularly in the context of our main customers' industries, such as electric steelmaking, the competitive situation, interest and exchange rate trends, technological developments as well as other risks and uncertainties. We perceive additional risks e.g. in pricing developments, unforeseeable events in the environment of companies acquired and Group member companies as well as in current cost savings programs from time to time. The SGL Group assumes no obligation and does not intend to adjust or otherwise update these forward-looking statements either.

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