Denka Announces Completion of Acquisition of DuPont's Chloroprene Rubber Business

TOKYO, Nov. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Denka Company Limited (hereinafter "Denka") announced on November 4 that on October 31, 2015, Denka Performance Elastomer LLC (hereinafter "DPE"), a joint venture Denka has established in the United States with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Mitsui"), completed procedures for the transfer of the chloroprene rubber business of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company(hereinafter "DuPont") of the United States to DPE after obtaining the formal approval of relevant authorities.

As announced on the preceding news release titled "Announcement of Acquisition of Chloroprene Rubber Business from DuPont, U.S." (December 11, 2014), Denka, Mitsui and DuPont have entered into an agreement with regard to the acquisition of DuPont's chloroprene rubber business. Having obtained the aforementioned approval from the authorities of each country, the three entities completed procedures for the business acquisition in accordance with the agreement. DPE has thus become the manager of chloroprene rubber-related operations that DuPont divested, including a part of production facilities at the Pontchartrain Works site in La Place, Louisiana, the United States, effective November 1, 2015.

Denka has long been operating a chloroprene rubber production facility in its Omi Plant (Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, Japan). We are now poised to deploy an even stronger supply structure with the second facility in North America, which will better position us to achieve greater customer satisfaction through the stable provision of high-quality chloroprene rubber.

This acquisition has been positioned as a key move in light of our policy of creating the most optimal production system based on the Denka100 management plan growth strategy. Using the acquisition as a springboard, we will endeavor to realize the plan's numerical targets at the earliest possible date.

The impact of the acquisition on Denka's consolidated business performance for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, will be minor.

Outline of Denka Performance Elastomer LLC

(1)Company name: Denka Performance Elastomer LLC
(2)Location: La Place, Louisiana, the United States
(3)Representative: Koki Tabuchi (CEO & President)
(4)Capital: US$62 million (as of October 31, 2015);
                Approximately 7.4 billion Japanese yen (120 yen = US$1)

About Denka Company Limited
Company name: Denka Company Limited
Representative: Shinsuke Yoshitaka, President & CEO
headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Securities code: 4061 (the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange)

SOURCE Denka Company Limited