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GKN Establishes French Marketing Office In Paris Metropolitan Area

10 February 2000

GKN Sinter Metals Establishes French Marketing Office In Paris Metropolitan Area

             World's Leading Producer of Powder Metal Components
                    Opens Office at Carrieres sous Poissy

    AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Feb. 10 -- In a move aimed at bringing
the company closer to their current customers in France as well as to further
penetrate the French market, GKN Sinter Metals has established a business
office at Carrieres sous Poissy in the Paris metropolitan region.
    The world's leading producer of powder metal components already has a
significant presence in Europe, with six production facilities in Germany, two
in Italy, and additional plants in England and Sweden.
    "In order to be a truly global company, we have to situate ourselves in
those markets that are critical to our customers," says Seifi Ghasemi, GKN
Sinter Metals' president and chief executive officer.  "Over the past two
years, we have been developing an organization that blends a global scope of
operations with local support.  The objective," he says, "is to build
worldwide partnerships with our customers, taking into consideration their
long-range manufacturing needs as well as their day-to-day production
demands."
    The powder metal components business is heavily invested in the automotive
industry, so it is not surprising to find OEMs such as PSA, Renault, Ford and
GM Powertrain, and parts manufacturers like Pierburg France, Valeo, Sekurit
Saint Gobain and Meritor France among GKN Sinter Metals' French customers.
But the company also produces products for clients in other industrial fields,
and lists Moulinex, manufacturers of kitchen appliances and white goods, and
Tecumseh, a producer of refrigeration compressors, among them.
    To support the company's marketing efforts in France, GKN Sinter Metals
has relocated two senior managers to Carrieres sous Poissy -- JeanLouis
Rougerie and Frederic Rosset.
    Rougerie has been working for GKN Sinter Metals for eight years and is the
Business Unit Manager for PSA.
    Rosset has transferred from sister company GKN Automotive where he spent
10 years, first as a Commercial Engineer for Hookes and cv joints and then as
Business Unit Manager for Ford, Fiat, Saab and Volvo.  He now acts as the
Business Unit Manager for Renault.
    They are supported by Catherine Turlot, Sales Executive Assistant, who had
been the Assistant to the Sales Director at GKN Glaenzer Spicer for the past
five years.
    Since 1992, GKN has had a sales office in the region of Molins to
accommodate first and second tier suppliers in the automotive industry and
other important customers.  Jean Louis Parry, a Sales Engineer, has headed up
the Molins office, and has been supported by Oswald Alton, a Sales Account
Manager who shuttles between the south of France and the company's production
facility in Bruneck, Italy.
    The company expects to hire an Applications Engineer in the coming weeks.
    According to Mr. Ghasemi, opening an office in the Paris area is only the
first step in a larger plan to cultivate the French market.  "With our team's
progress (in developing a wider customer base) over the intermediate term, we
will then turn our attention to establishing a manufacturing presence in
France.  We see this next phase as a logical progression in growing our
business here."
    GKN Sinter Metals, with over 30 production facilities worldwide and
business assets spanning 13 countries and five continents, has sales in excess
of $800 million and is the world's leading producer of powder metal
components.  The Company employs some 7,000 employees and produces over 4,000
different parts for the automotive, commercial vehicle, home appliance, lawn &
garden, office equipment, power tool, and recreational vehicle markets.  GKN
Sinter Metals is a wholly owned subsidiary of U.K.-based GKN plc, a global
industrial company.