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Toray Industries Inc

27 September 2013

September 27, 2013

Toray Industries, Inc.

Toray to enter into Large tow Carbon Fiber Business

- purchase the entire stake in a U.S. manufacturer -

Toray Industries, Inc. (headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiro Nikkaku; hereinafter referred to as "Toray") announced today that it has agreed to purchase the entire stake at $16.75 per share (total amount is approximately $584 million) in Zoltek Companies, Inc. (headquarters: St. Louis, Missouri, U.S; President & CEO: Zsolt Rumy; hereinafter referred to as "Zoltek"), engaging sales and manufacture of large tow (1) carbon fibers, and make it a wholly owned subsidiary in order to enter into large tow carbon fiber business.

The global demand for PAN-based carbon fibers is expected to expand at an annual growth rate of exceeding 15% as an advanced material which contributes not only to energy saving through weight reduction but also to spread of renewable energy as alternative of fuel (oil and coal) energy. On the one hand, regular tow carbon fiber (2) is widely being accepted in the field of high performance / high quality application such as aerospace, but on the other hand, large tow carbon fiber is anticipated to expand its applications, based on its reasonable balance between cost and performance, to wind energy-related which shows rapid demand growth in recent years, and automobile structural parts in future. It is foreseen that demands for regular tow carbon fiber and large tow fiber will grow separately, reflecting each characteristic.

Zoltek entered into large tow carbon fiber business in 1988, and acquired textile acrylic fiber plants in Hungary and Mexico in 1996 and 2007 respectively, and has been promoting development of large tow carbon fiber application and demand. Under its unique marketing strategy distinguished from that of regular tow manufacturers, Zoltek has recently realized outstanding growth in its business along with the demand increase in wind energy-related application, pursuing its ultimate cost competitiveness.

Toray has showed its presence in the field of advanced applications such as aerospace represented by Boeing 787 and natural gas pressure vessel by concentrating its business resource to high performance / high quality regular tow carbon fiber. Meanwhile, not having large tow carbon fiber as its product line up, Toray has been considering how to address promising growth in commodity industrial field such as wind energy-related application and automobile structural parts application. By acquiring Zoltek, Toray has obtained opportunity for further growth, expanding its business in totally different field from regular tow carbon fiber.

As one of its strategically expanding businesses, Toray has promoted business expansion of carbon fiber composite materials business by proactively allocating business resources. Through entering into large tow carbon fiber business, Toray aims at further expanding its business and providing solution to global issues including environmental, resource-related and energy issueswith this advanced material.

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1 Large tow Carbon fiber with 40,000 or more number of filaments applied for the applications such as wind turbine blades and reinforced plastics compounds, produced on modified acrylic staple fiber production line for textile,

2 Regular tow Carbon fiber with 24,000 or less number of filaments used for high-end applications such as aircrafts which require high performance and quality, produced on specially designed equipment.

<Reference>

Profile of Zoltek Companies, Inc. (Zoltek)

(1)Business: production and sales of large tow carbon fiber

(2)Headquarters: St.Louis, Missouri, U.S.

(3)Established: 1975

(4)Representative: Zsolt Rumy - President & CEO

GCA Savvian Advisors, LLC is serving as financial advisor and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as legal counsel to Toray in connection with the transaction

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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