BEKAERT AND TOKYO ROPE
ESTABLISH A NEW JOINT VENTURE

N.V. BEKAERT S.A. (BEKAERT) and TOKYO ROPE MFG. CO., LTD. (TOKYO ROPE) announce today that they have agreed to establish BEKAERT TOKO METAL FIBER, KK (BEKAERT TMF), a 70/30 Japanese joint venture company for the development, manufacturing and sale of thin metal fibre based products in Asia. Total initial capital needs amount to JPY 220 million (EUR 2 million). The new company will start production in early 2002 and will employ 15 people at the start. Turnover in the first year is estimated at more than JPY 400 million.

Bekaert, through BEKAERT FIBRE TECHNOLOGIES (BFT) (www.bekaert.com/bft) that belongs to its fast growing Business Unit ´BEKAERT ADVANCED MATERIALS´, is the world leading producer and marketer of metal fibres.

Metal fibres are very thin metal filaments, with diameters ranging from 1 to 80 microns, much thinner than human hair that has a thickness of 70 to 100 microns. (One micron is one thousandth of a millimetre). These metal fibres are produced in various alloys and are used in a wide variety of products such as filter media and filter elements, conductive plastics and conductive textiles, in environmentally friendly gas burners, in shielding applications and many others. The high tech characteristics of the products and the variety of alloys lead to the development of a continuously increasing number of new products and new applications.

BFT developed overtime a world-wide leading position in various industrial applications, such as filtration of polymers, filters used in inkjet printers, filters for airbags, filters for beverages and hot gases, electrically conductive textiles, heat resistant textiles, conductive additives for plastics and environmentally friendly burners.

In Asia, BFT has built up a strong position in most of those market segments, showing over the past years a compounded average growth rate of approx. 20 %. Bekaert expects that this growth rate will continue in the future following the specific and high tech characteristics and the high number of new products and new applications.

In order to support this growth, BEKAERT and TOKYO ROPE decided to join forces. Under the agreement TOKYO ROPE will stop its bundle drawn metal fibre activities and all its related assets will be transferred to BEKAERT TMF whose main production site will be located at Tsuchiura, near Tokyo. The General Manager will be Mr. Izumi, formerly Market Manager Porous Media for BFT ASIA.

This new joint venture will enable BEKAERT to fully participate in the new developments of the various Japanese high tech market niches such as inkjet filtration, production of fuel cells and catalyst recovery as well as in textile applications.

This joint venture perfectly fits Bekaert´s twin track strategy focussed on the one hand on keeping its existing businesses in top shape and at the other hand to fundamentally renewing the business by continuously developing and introducing new products and new applications. Those new products and applications are always based on Bekaert´s core competencies, metal transformation and coating technologies, and will serve markets with a high growth potential and with industrial products close to the end users.

TOKYO ROPE is the largest wire rope manufacturer in Japan, established in 1887, with a total turnover in 2000 of JPY 89.2 billion. Its major products are wire rope, steel cord and various steel wires. They focus on environment related construction materials such as rock fall prevention nets and noise guard as well as on new types of industrial cable such as carbon fibre composite cable.

BEKAERT (www.bekaert.com) is a world leader in advanced metal transformation and coating technologies, headquartered in Belgium with a total turnover in 2000 of EUR 2.7 billion. Founded in 1880, the company has more than 80 production plants world-wide and has 17.200 employees.

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