Press Releases

September 17, 1999
Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
WACKER-CHEMIE GMBH

Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President:Mr. Kazumoto Yamamoto, hereafter referred to as Asahi Kasei) and Wacker-Chemie GmbH in Germany (Headquarters: Munich, President: Mr Karl G. Engels, hereafter referred to as Wacker) agreed to establish a Joint Venture in Japan dealing with development, production and sales of silicone products, and signed the joint venture contract today. Wacker's 100% subsidiary Wacker Chemicals East Asia Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, President: Dr. Carlos Weise) has transferred business other than silicones into a new company, and transferred 50% of Wacker Chemicals East Asia's capital to Asahi Kasei. The Joint Venture company will be named Wacker Asahi Kasei Silicone Co., Ltd.

Wacker is a company shared 50/50 by the Wacker family and Hoechst AG. Wacker has more than half a century's history in silicones and ranks as the 3rd largest silicone producer in the world. Wacker has a consolidated business infrastructure in the Asian market, including Japan, where business demands are expected to grow in future, and judged that further business expansion would need a local partner. Asahi Kasei already has business with applied silicone products and has focused on the good environmental adaptability and extremely wide range of applications of silicone. Now Asahi Kasei is entering the silicone business through the joint venture.

The Joint Venture will produce silicone products at Akeno plant in Ibaragi Prefecture and import Wacker products. The Joint Venture will start its selling activity in Japan. In other Asian countries, sales will be conducted through Wacker's network. For the time being, the Joint Venture is concentrating its resources on upgrading its business structure in Japan and the development and sales of products to meet requirements of Japanese customers, particularly in new markets. In future, the Joint Venture intends to become a silicone producer with special characteristics by integrating Wacker technology, which has a good reputation in Europe, USA and Asia, and Asahi Kasei's capabilities for application technology and development. Current sales for the JV is about 5 billion Yen and is looking forward for a 10 billion sales after 5 years.

Silicones do specialist jobs in many industries – in construction and transport, in the electrical and electronics industries, in textiles and paper, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, as well as in the chemicals, paints and surface coatings, plastics and rubber industries. Among other highly valued characteristics, silicones can withstand extreme temperatures, they have outstanding release properties, are water repellent and have special electrical properties. Silicones are supplied as fluids, resins, reactive polymers and rubbers. Subsequent processing transforms them into elastomers, sealants, lubricants, release agents, antifoams, impregnating and coating agents – to list only some of their many uses.