Joint Venture Starts up in ASEAN and U.S. with BlueScope Steel, Australia

Mar. 28, 2013

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation

Joint Venture Starts up in ASEAN and U.S. with BlueScope Steel, Australia

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Chairman & CEO: Shoji Muneoka, hereinafter “NSSMC”) agreed with BlueScope Steel Limited, Australia (CEO: Paul O’Malley, hereinafter “BSL”) to establish a coated products (hot-dip galvanized sheets, painted sheets, and roll-formed building products) joint venture in ASEAN and the U.S. (hereinafter the “Joint Venture”) last August. The NSSMC Group will make an equity investment in the Joint Venture, through the purchase from BSL of 50% of BSL’s equity holdings in operating entities in ASEAN and the U.S. that compose the Joint Venture, to organize them into a 50 : 50 Joint Venture between NSSMC and BSL as equal participants.

Today, NSSMC, together with Nippon Steel & Sumikin Coated Sheet Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NSSMC, has completed the equity investment in the Joint Venture and the Joint Venture has officially started up. The Joint Venture is called NS BlueScope Coated Products and headquartered in Singapore.

NSSMC, through the Joint Venture, aims to provide more value-added products, services and solutions. This equity participation will open the way for quicker responses to the rapidly expanding demand for coated products in the building and construction fields in ASEAN and North America and will also enable faster, on-target responses to market needs with the wide spread of footprints across 29 plants in 7 countries. Moreover, by inputting NSSMC’s proprietary technologies and product bundles to the Joint Venture, NSSMC is pursuing the opportunities to access and capture a larger market field, such as the home appliances market in Southeast Asia, taking advantage of NSSMC's geographic proximity to the market.

[Outline of the Joint Venture]

Joint Venture name:	NS BlueScope Coated Products
Equity ratios:	NSSMC Group 50% and BSL 50%
Purpose of business:	Manufacture and sale of hot-dip galvanized steel sheet,
	painted steel sheet, and roll-formed building products
Main productive capacities:	Cold-rolling capacity: 800,000 tons/year
	Hot-dip galvanizing capacity: 1,400,000 tons/year
	Painting capacity: 650,000 tons/year
	Steel manufacturing & Roll-forming bases: 29 bases
Joint Venture operating entities:	20 companies in 7 countries
Employees:	About 3,000
Chairman:	Mr.Shinya Higuchi (a representative director of NSSMC)
CEO:	Mr. Sanjay Dayal (a divisional chief executive of BSL)

For inquiries, contact:
Public Relations Center, General Administration Div.
Tel: 81-3-6867-2135, 2146, 2977