Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President, Masanao Kambara, hereinafter MRC) and SGL Technologies GmbH (Head Office: Wiesbaden, Germany; CEO, Robert J Koehler herein after SGL) have established a joint venture, MRC – SGL Precursor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter MSP), for production and sales of precursor.

1. Overview of the establishment of MSP

Expanding existing business alliance since 2005 between both parties, now MRC and SGL have established MSP to supply the precursor securely for SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC (hereinafter SGL ACF) which is a joint venture between SGL and BMW group (hereinafter BMW). The precursor will be converted to carbon fiber at SGL ACF’s plant in Moses Lake, WA, U.S.A. and finally used as structure parts of electrical vehicle namely “Megacity Vehicle” which will be launched before 2015 under a BMW sub-brand.

MRC holds 66.66% of MSP’s shares and SGL 33.34% respectively. MSP’s Head Office is located in Minato-ku with owning production capacity of the precursor in MRC’s Otake Production Center. Commercial production will be started in April 2011 and then the capacity is expected to become seven thousand metric tons within 3 years as a first phase.

MRC and SGL are confident that the establishment of MSP will lead to further expansion of the business alliance between both parties, and will work together on development of carbon fiber applications in growing industrial markets.