November 20, 2007
The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, president, CEO & COO: Hiroshi Ishikawa, “Furukawa”) and Toray Industries, Inc. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, president, CEO & COO: Sadayuki Sakakibara, “Toray”) are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement to form a sales partnership in China for their foamed polyolefin products. In November this year, the Furukawa Electric (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., a China-based subsidiary of Furukawa, commences the import and sale of Toray’s foamed polyolefin products.
The objective of this partnership is for both companies to complement the strengths of each other’s foamed polyolefin businesses to achieve further expansion. Furukawa deals extensively with foamed polypropylene, microcellular PET foam, biodegradable foam sheets, and other foam products chiefly for building materials and a range of industrial materials, while Toray deals in foamed polyethylene and polypropylene products and other foam products that are principally used as materials for automotive interiors. The sales partnership combines Furukawa’s broad array of products and its local sales network in China with Toray’s strong product lineup for automotive interior materials, to better serve Chinese users with improved offerings and to boost the sales of both companies’ products.
The two companies will study a sales partnership for foamed polyolefin products in the European and American markets after establishing the partnership in the Chinese market. They will aim to build a global product supply system using each other’s overseas bases and create broad-based synergy, for example, by enhancing their development, planning, and proposals of new products.
| The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. | |
| Founded | 1884 |
| Representative | Hiroshi Ishihara, president, CEO & COO |
| Head office | 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
| Business activities | Energy and industrial products, telecommunications, electronics, metals, services and others |
| Capitalization | 69.3 billion yen (as of the end of March 2007) |
| Consolidated sales | 1,104.7 billion yen (for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007) |
| The Furukawa Electric (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. | |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Representative | Yoshitaka Hattori, chairman |
| Head office | 15, No.2 Xinghua Branch Road, Xiqing Economic Development Area, Tianjin, P. R. China |
| Business activities | The import, export and domestic wholesale trading in China of low-voltage, high-current power supply systems, foamed polyolefin sheets, their derivative products, and related products and related technical services |
| Capital | 600 million yen (as of the end of March 2007) |
| Sales | 67 million yuan (for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007) |
| Toray Industries, Inc. | |
| Founded | 1926 |
| Representative | Sadayuki Sakakibara, president, CEO & COO |
| Head office | 2-1-1 Nihombashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo |
| Business activities | Fibers and Textiles, Plastics and Chemicals, IT-Related Products, Carbon Fiber Composite Materials, Environment and Engineering, Life Science and Other Businesses |
| Capital | 96.9 billion yen (as of the end of March 2007) |
| Consolidated sales | 1,546.5 billion yen (for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007) |