Bekaert expands in Japan

N.V. Bekaert S.A. (Belgium), the Nippon Institute of Technology (NIT) (Japan) and Professor Yanagisawa of NIT (Japan) have signed an agreement to set up a joint venture company in Japan for the development, production and selling of Bekinitä fibres and Bekinitä fibre products. Investment is estimated at JPY 350 million of which JPY 200 million will be financed by equity capital. 60 % of the shares will be owned by Bekaert and 40 % by the NIT group. Today, 28 October 1997, the partners organised the official opening party.

N.V. Bekaert S.A., parent company of the Bekaert Group, is located in Belgium. The Group is world-wide leader in steel wire, steel wire products and steel cord, with more than 60 production centres in over 20 countries around the world representing in 1996 a turnover of BEF 77 billion and employing more than 16,000 people. The group has also a leading position in very thin metal fibres, ranging between 1 and 80 microns (m ), with a turnover of BEF 1.6 billion in 1996. Those fibres are applied in various industrial markets such as filter media, heat resistance cloth, electrically conductive textiles and conductive plastics.

The Nippon Institute of Technology (NIT) is a well-established Japanese college with ca. 4,500 engineering students and located at Saitama, some 40 km north of central Tokyo. Professor Yanagisawa teaches at NIT and developed a specific technology of coil shaving for the production of metal fibres and has several patents with respect to this technology.

The new joint venture, which will be called "Bekinit K.K." and will produce thin metal fibres through coil shaving, is the result of an intense co-operation between Bekaert’s research centre and its "Advanced Materials" division, NIT and Professor Yanagisawa. This co-operation which started in 1993 has already led to the successful development and production of knitted burner media, based on spun yarn made of Fecralloy® for Acotech, a joint venture company between Bekaert and Shell.

The new technology offers a cheaper production method and a shorter and more flexible throughput time than the traditional production method and offers the opportunity to produce fibres from various metals such as Titanium, Fecralloy®, Aluminium, Nickel, Copper, a whole series of stainless steels, etc. Through this technology, metal fibres can be made in equivalent diameters ranging between 20 and 100 microns (m ).

Initially, the joint venture’s facility for the development and manufacturing of Bekinitä fibres and fibre products will be located at the NIT Campus at Saitama. Test production has already started and industrial production is planned early 1998. Until now, Bekinit K.K. has started supplying metal fibres for several promising applications such as kitchen grease filters, motorcycle muffler felts and high temperature air filters. Those applications are expected to grow very rapidly in the coming years. Expected turnover is over JPY 1 billion within 4 years.

END OF THIS PRESS RELEASE