News Room 2015

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UACJ Considering Establishment of a New European Company for Automotive Heat Exchanger Materials

April 28, 2015

UACJ Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Mitsuru Okada; hereinafter, “UACJ”) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Elval Hellenic Aluminium Industry S.A. (Headquarters: Athens, Greece; General Manager: Lambros Varouchas; hereinafter, “ELVAL”) to consider establishing a new joint company for automotive heat exchanger materials in Europe.

UACJ has developed a close relationship with ELVAL, having made technology contributions to the company over a number of years. In 2007, the companies jointly established AFSEL S.A. (Headquarters: Athens, Greece; Managing Director: Dimitris Kyriacopoulos) to perform market research and to promote sales of automotive heat exchanger materials made by ELVAL with the technical support of UACJ in Europe. The current consideration is meant to enhance and extend this relationship.

Demand for automotive heat exchanger materials in Europe, which is a key automotive market, is expected to remain robust going forward. Following the establishment of the company under consideration, plans are to make purchases primarily from ELVAL, as well as from UACJ and UACJ (Thailand) Co., Ltd., as needed, with the company selling products to European customers collectively under the UACJ name. UACJ will also consider expanding operations in the production area going forward.

By providing its important partner, ELVAL, with leading-edge technology for automotive heat exchanger materials and benefitting from Elval’s advanced production capabilities UACJ should be able to provide a wide range of European customers with high-quality, competitive products.

UACJ considers automotive heat exchanger materials to be a strategic product. Going forward, the UACJ Group intends to augment its global supply network for automotive heat exchanger materials, boosting its presence as a provider of global solutions for customers who are expanding their operations in locations around the world.

UACJ and ELVAL plan to continue deliberations to reach final agreement with a view to establishing the new company around July 2015.

Overview of New Company (Planned)

Overview of ELVAL

Elval is a leading aluminium processing and trading Group in Europe. The Elval Group’s extensive manufacturing base includes 12 production plants in Greece, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom and manufactures numerous different aluminium products that meet the needs of the food, shipbuilding, automotive, construction and printing industries among others. It exports to more than 90 countries and has trading subsidiaries in seven countries. Elval is a subsidiary of Viohalco S.A., the holding company of various metal processing companies in Europe.