AlliedSignal, Kohap, S.K. Chemicals and Sam Yang Join Forces
27 October 1998
AlliedSignal, Kohap, S.K. Chemicals and Sam Yang Join Forces; Form New Asian Performance Fibers Company
SEOUL, South Korea--Oct. 26, 1998--AlliedSignal Inc. announced today that it will join with Kohap Ltd., S.K. Chemicals Ltd., and Sam Yang Corporation to form a new Asian Performance Fibers company based in South Korea.
The new company will be the premier marketer of high tenacity performance fiber in Asia.
Under the terms of the agreement, the new company will market the high tenacity performance fibers produced by all four companies in the South East Asian area. The four companies will continue to own and operate their facilities to manufacture the range of products. Technology to modify and expand the product range will be supplied by AlliedSignal, who will have a majority ownership in the new company.
In announcing the new venture, Fred Festa, Vice President of AlliedSignal's Performance Fibers business, said, "This unique new company combines the exceptional operational skills of three major Korean companies and AlliedSignal's experience in developing and marketing a broad range of value-added, high technology, performance fiber products and processes. We are confident this will allow for a rapid expansion of product and service offerings and accelerated growth for all four companies."
AlliedSignal Vice President Dr. David Pendlebury led the multi-company team that developed this innovative combination. "Clearly, a major emphasis in the development of this venture was to ensure that the operating philosophy and the inter-personal relationships amongst the four companies could be successfully sustained over the long term," said Pendlebury. "Fortunately, we found that our values are, surprisingly, very similar. Over the course of discussions, we developed a healthy respect for each other that will form a solid basis for successful, enduring cooperation."
AlliedSignal will have overall majority interest in the new company and Sam Yang Corporation will have the majority amongst the three Korean partners.
Mr. In-Seok Koh, Executive Vice President of Sam Yang said, "We're confident the new company will enable us to exceed our customers' expectation with improved quality, timely technical support, on-time delivery and broader portfolio of products. In addition, the combined R&D capabilities of the four companies will insure we are leading the race to provideour customers innovative technical solutions."
S.K. Chemicals Ltd., Senior Vice President, Mr. Kee Dong Kwon said, "We believe combining AlliedSignal's advanced global marketing network and technological capabilities with our manufacturing skills will generate synergy effects in many areas. We can save considerable time and cost by sharing our resources, which we believe will help us become a more competitive and adaptive company in the current dynamic global market." According to Mr. Y. J. Lee, Managing Director of Kohap Ltd., "The new company will enable us to more rapidly achieve effective utilization of our resources and thus the financial returns anticipated for this world wide growth business."
Due diligence and detailed structural arrangements for the venture have been completed according to Mr. Robert Preston, the new company's first Chairman of the Board and AlliedSignal's Asian regional general manager. The new operating structure will be in place in the fourth quarter.
AlliedSignal is an advanced technology and manufacturing company serving customers worldwide with aerospace and automotive products, chemicals, fibers, plastics and advanced materials. The company employs 70,500 people worldwide. AlliedSignal is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard and Poor's 500 Index, and it is included in Fortune magazine's lists of the "Most Admired Companies" and "100 Best Places to Work in America." Additional information on the company is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.alliedsignal.com/.
NOTE: Those statements made in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although AlliedSignal believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and necessarily involve risks that may affect the companies' business prospects and performance, causing actual results to differ from those discussed in the foregoing release. Such risks and uncertainties include, by way of example and not of limitation: general business and economic conditions; competitive products and pricing; fluctuations in supply of feedstock and demand for products manufactured; potential equipment malfunction; the regulatory environment; and plant construction/ repair delays. These and other applicable risks and uncertainties have been described more fully in AlliedSignal's 1997 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 1998.