Alcan Granted Global Exclusivity by Cyclics on CBT Resin

SINS, Switzerland--June 10, 2004--Alcan Composites, a business unit of Alcan Inc., and Cyclics Europe GmbH (Germany), a subsidiary of Cyclics Corporation (USA) have today announced a cooperation agreement for the development and commercialization of Cyclics' CBT(R) resin, the cyclic form of polybutylene terephthalate resin, in key strategic markets. CBT(R) resin is an innovative plastic that allows new material combinations for the composites industry. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Cyclics, the manufacturer of CBT(R) resin, has granted a global exclusivity to Alcan Composites for the marketing and sales activities for CBT(R) resin based composite materials targeting display and graphic arts, architecture markets, as well as general industry infrastructure applications. "CBT(R) resin with its unique characteristics will enable a considerable improvement to both process productivity and product performance, making it a very attractive new semi-finished material for future applications", says Georg Reif, president of Alcan Composites.

"Our alliance with Alcan Composites helps us deliver our unique plastic resins to the architecture, construction and general industry infrastructure markets," said Roman Eder, Managing Director, Cyclics GmbH. "Alcan Composites brings world class expertise in manufacturing technology and market access via their global distribution network."

Cyclics Corporation, headquartered in Schenectady, New York, manufactures innovative plastics, based on technology developed and patented by GE, that offer breakthroughs in processing, making new products possible and changing the economics of existing ones. Cyclics has an alliance with Dow Automotive to develop CBT(R) resins for automotive applications. The water-like processing viscosities of Cyclics' engineering thermoplastic products offer improvements in performance and productivity for structural composites, compounding, casting and rotational molding.

Alcan Composites is a global player comprising eight companies in Europe, North and South America and China employing 2300 people. It has a unique configuration with a comprehensive offering ranging from aluminum composite and sheet materials for the Display & Graphic Arts and Architectural markets to core materials and sandwich panels for transportation and general industry. AIREX(R), BALTEK(R), ALUCORE(R), ALUCOBOND(R), KAPA(R), FOREX(R) and DIBOND(R) are just some of its well-known brands.

Alcan is a multinational, market-driven company and a global leader in aluminum and packaging, as well as aluminum recycling. With world-class operations in primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum as well as flexible and specialty packaging, aerospace applications, bauxite mining and alumina processing, today's Alcan is even better positioned to meet and exceed its customers' needs for innovative solutions and service. Alcan employs 88,000 people and has operating facilities in 63 countries.