News Room 2016

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UACJ and Constellium to Study the Expansion of Existing Joint Venture Body-in-White (BiW) Business

March 10, 2016

UACJ Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Mitsuru Okada; hereinafter, “UACJ”) and Constellium N.V. (Headquarters: Amsterdam, the Netherlands; CEO: Pierre Vareille; hereinafter, “Constellium”) have agreed to study the expansion of existing joint venture BiW business in the United States.

In May 2014, the two companies entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture company and commence joint operations in the BiW business. Construction is currently underway on a plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the United States, that will house a finishing line and have an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons. Believing that U.S. demand for BiW is certain to increase, and given that the production line is to start operating soon in June 2016, the companies will now begin considering a further expansion of this joint business.

UACJ’s consolidated subsidiary in the United States, Tri-Arrows Aluminum Inc. (Headquarters: Louisville, Kentucky, United States; CEO: Shigekazu Shiraishi; hereinafter, “TAA”) will also supply cold-rolled coil for the joint business.

UACJ considers BiW a strategic product, and has built up strong trust-based relationships with various automakers over many years. Constellium, meanwhile, has established its position as a major player in the European market. By combining the two companies’ technologies and expertise, UACJ and Constellium aim to expand their joint business in the United States, as well as evolving as companies able to propose optimal solutions that help make automobiles more lightweight and respond to future customer requirements.

Overview of Constellium

Constellium is a global leader in the development of high-performance, high-value-added aluminum products that are widely used in such fields as aerospace, automobiles and packaging. Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the company had 2014 sales of €3.7 billion.

Overview of TAA

TAA is a U.S. rolled aluminum manufacturing and sales company that is jointly capitalized by UACJ, Sumitomo Corporation, ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU Metals Corporation. The company manufactures and sells aluminum stock for beverage cans, with current annual production of approximately 320,000 tons.