Preparation of Divestiture Plan regarding Stainless Steel Business Integration between Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel Corporation (Head Office in Chiyoda-ku， Tokyo； President MIMURA Akio) and Sumitomo Metal Industries， Ltd. (Head Office in Chuo-ku， Osaka； President SHIMOZUMA Hiroshi) decided at the end of last year to integrate their stainless steel businesses through the divestiture of their relevant divisions and the establishment of a new company， and concluded a basic agreement for the purpose. Today， with the approval by their respective Boards of Directors， the two companies prepared a divestiture plan. Accordingly， we hereby inform you that the procedure for the divestiture will now start.

The outline of the business integration is as shown below. The items newly announced today are the location of the head office of the new company， the names of representatives and the capital amount.

1. Company name: Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corporation
2. Line of business: Manufacture and sale of stainless steel (sheets， plates， bars， wires， slabs and billets)
3. Date of integration: October 1， 2003
4. Head office: 3-2-2， Hongoku-cho， Nihonbashi， Chuo-ku， Tokyo
5. Representatives: MANTANI Okitsugu， representative director & presidentNAGAHATA Tsutomu， representative director & executive vice president
6. Capital amount: Five billion yen
7. Scale of operation (actual-result-basis): Sales: approximately ￥150 billion per year Production: approximately 1 million tons per year
8. Number of employees: Approximately 1，300 (expected)
9. Plants & offices: Hikari Works， Kashima Works and Yawata Plate MillSales office in Osaka， Nagoya， Kyushu， Chugoku， Niigata & Hokkaido.
10. Ratio of share allotment: Nippon Steel 80% and Sumitomo Metal 20%

Further inquiries about this matter should be addressed to:

Public Relations Center， General Administrative Div.
Nippon Steel Corporation
Telephone: 03-3275-5021

Public Relations & IR Group
Sumitomo Metal Industries， Ltd.
Telephone: 03-4416-6115