Press information

23.04.2008 Overview
 

OSRAM sells tungsten operation to Plansee Group

Subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities

Subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities, OSRAM, one of the leading lighting manufacturers of the world, today announced the sale of its Global Tungsten and Powders (GTP) business unit to Plansee Group, of Reutte, Austria.

The sale will include a United States facility in Towanda, PA and Sylvania Tungsten s. r.o., a subsidiary of OSRAM's Bruntál operation in the Czech Republic. GTP has more than 1000 employees, sales accounted for approximately 280 Mio. EUR in Fiscal Year 2007. The sale price was not disclosed.

"The Global Tungsten and Powders business unit has established itself as a world-class operation, driven by highly committed teams in the United States and Czech Republic. However, its business has diversified well beyond the lighting products that are OSRAM's strategic focus," Martin Goetzeler, CEO of OSRAM said. In joining Plansee, the GTP division would become part of a leading supplier of powder metallurgical products and components. "Our remaining prematerial activities, such as glass and coil production at other locations, will remain a strategically important part of OSRAM's business", Goetzeler added. As a result, OSRAM's resources will be focused on its core lighting business.

The sale of GTP follows the reorganization of the OSRAM division Precision Material & Components last year, when Global Tungsten and Powders (GTP) activities were separated as a business unit. In addition to prematerials for lighting products (e.g. tungsten for lamp wires) GTP mainly produces prematerials for other industries, such as tungsten carbide for machine tools, energy and aerospace.

About OSRAM
OSRAM is part of the Industry sector of Siemens and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. Sales for the OSRAM group worldwide in the year ending September 30, 2007 totaled 4.7 billion euros, 88 percent of which came from outside Germany. OSRAM is a high-tech company in the lighting industry. Around 60 percent of sales come from energy-efficient products. This global player employs more than 41,000 people worldwide, supplies customers in some 150 countries and has 48 production facilities in 17 countries.

About the Plansee Group
With its three divisions - PLANSEE High Performance Materials, CERATIZIT and PMG - the Plansee Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of powder metallurgical products and components. The Group achieved worldwide sales of over 1.4 billion euros in the 2006/07 fiscal year (ignoring differing shares of ownership) and employed a total of 8,800 people. The fiscal year ends on the last day of February.

Note
This document contains forward-looking statements and information - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. These statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "looks forward to," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. Such statements are based on our current expectations and certain assumptions, and are, therefore, subject to certain risks and uncertainties. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond Siemens' control, affect our operations, performance, business strategy and results and could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Siemens to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For us, particular uncertainties arise, among others, from changes in general economic and business conditions (including margin developments in major business areas); the challenges of integrating major acquisitions and implementing joint ventures and other significant portfolio measures; changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates; introduction of competing products or technologies by other companies; lack of acceptance of new products or services by customers targeted by Siemens; changes in business strategy; the outcome of pending investigations and legal proceedings, especially the corruption investigation we are currently subject to in Germany, the United States and elsewhere; the potential impact of such investigations and proceedings on our ongoing business including our relationships with governments and other customers; the potential impact of such matters on our financial statements; as well as various other factors. More detailed information about certain of these factors is contained throughout this report and in our other filings with the SEC, which are available on the Siemens website, www.siemens.com, and on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the relevant forward-looking statement as expected, anticipated, intended, planned, believed, sought, estimated or projected. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.

Press contact:

OSRAM

Reglindis Pfeiffer
Tel: +49-89-6213-2305
Fax: +49-89-6213-3457
Email: reglindis.pfeiffer@osram.de