Allegheny Technologies and VSMPO-AVISMA
Form Uniti LLC,
A Joint Venture Serving a Variety of Titanium Markets
Pittsburgh, PA – April 29,
2003 – Allegheny Technologies
Incorporated (NYSE: ATI) announced the
formation of Uniti LLC, a joint venture
with Russian-based VSMPO-AVISMA (Verkhnaya
Salda Metallurgical Production Association – Berezniki
Titanium-Magnesium Works) to produce
and market a range of industrial commercially
pure titanium products. Uniti’s
target markets include chemical and petroleum
processing, power generation, desalination,
pulp and paper, construction and architecture,
automotive and transportation, consumer
and electronics. The joint venture will
not be involved in commercial aerospace,
military and medical markets. The joint
venture is headquartered in Pittsburgh,
PA.
Uniti integrates the synergistic use of
the raw material, melting, hot rolling,
finishing, research and technology resources
of ATI and VSMPO-AVISMA. Uniti supplies
a broad array of titanium products and
is dedicated to enhancing customer service
and developing new applications in the
target markets for this lightweight and
corrosion-resistant material.
James L. Murdy, president and chief executive
officer of Allegheny Technologies said, “We
are very pleased to be partnering with
VSMPO-AVISMA in the pursuit of these titanium
markets. Titanium has been growing in use
in a variety of applications and Uniti
should significantly accelerate this growth.
This pro-competitive joint venture should
permit Allegheny Technologies to increase
our production of high-value products.
Utilizing existing advanced manufacturing
technology, ATI can produce these titanium
products on the same equipment used for
stainless steel, nickel-based and specialty
steel alloys. The joint venture should
offer ATI considerable revenue and income
growth potential, particularly in our Flat-Rolled
Products segment. Both ATI and VSMPO-AVISMA
will continue to supply the commercial
aerospace, military and medical markets
independently.”
Dr. Vladislav Tetyukhin, president and
chief executive officer of VSMPO-AVISMA
said the following on this matter, “While
we are currently going through a downturn
in titanium production, we should not forget
about the great future for titanium, and
about the tremendous opportunities it can
bring to humanity. In this difficult time
we need to focus our efforts to accomplish
this objective. In my opinion, multilateral
cooperation and partnership of the two
diversified companies, who each have almost
half a century of experience in titanium
production, is the key to success in achieving
the goal set forth.”
Titanium product forms offered by Uniti
include ingot, slab, sheet, strip, plate,
billet, bar, seamless tubing and welded
tubing. In 2002, titanium shipments to
the target markets were approximately 45
million pounds with a total market value
of about $400 million. A majority of these
shipments were sheet, strip, plate and
welded tubing products.
Carl Moulton has been named president
of Uniti. Most recently, he was assistant
vice president, strategic initiatives for
Allegheny Technologies and prior to that
he was senior vice president, commercial
for Allegheny Ludlum, an ATI company. He
has over 30 years of experience in the
specialty materials industry. Moulton said, “We
created Uniti to be a unique, competitive
and customer-responsive company that is
able to satisfy a broad array of needs
of the industrial titanium user. Semi-finished
products from VSMPO-AVISMA, such as slabs
and hot-rolled bands, are to be positioned
near ATI’s finishing facilities in
order to supply the shortest, most reliable
lead times in the industry. Extensive technology
assets from each partner are available
to aid our customers’ product development
efforts.”
Uniti expects to begin taking orders on
June 1, 2003. Prior to that time, customers
in the target markets should contact their
normal sales representatives at either
ATI or VSMPO-AVISMA.
Manufacturing of Unitiä products
will be done through conversion agreements
with VSMPO-AVISMA and ATI. In this innovative
arrangement, ATI and VSMPO-AVISMA will
each retain ownership of their respective
facilities made available to Uniti. VSMPO-AVISMA
and ATI will market and sell these joint
venture titanium products exclusively through
Uniti. Plans are for production to occur
in Russia at VSMPO-AVISMA facilities in
Verkhnaya Salda and in Berezniki, Perm
Region. ATI’s facilities involved
in production are located in Houston, PA,
Washington, PA, Vandergrift, PA, Monroe,
NC, Richburg, SC, Albany, OR and Richland,
WA. On agreement of the parties, additional
capacities can be added for production
in any region of the world.
This news release contains forward-looking
statements. These statements are based
on management’s current expectations
and are subject to uncertainty and changes
in circumstances. Actual results may differ
materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. Additional
information concerning factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected in the forward-looking
statements is contained in Allegheny Technologies
Incorporated’s filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Uniti brings together two
major global titanium producers with complimentary
manufacturing and technical capabilities,
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI)
of the United States, and VSMPO-AVISMA
(Verkhnaya Salda Metallurgical Production
Association – Berezniki Titanium-Magnesium
Works) from Russia, to create a joint venture
focused on titanium mill products for industrial
and other non-aerospace, non-military and
non-medical markets. Uniti integrates the
synergistic use of the raw material, melting,
hot rolling, finishing, research and technology
resources of the two companies. Uniti is
a supplier of a broad array of commercially
pure titanium products for target markets
in ingot, slab, plate, sheet, coil, bar,
billet, welded tubing and seamless tubing.
Uniti is dedicated to enhancing customer
service and developing new applications
in target markets for this lightweight
and corrosion-resistant material. These
target markets include chemical and petroleum
processing, power generation, desalination,
pulp and paper, construction and architecture,
automotive and transportation, consumer
and electronics.
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated
is one of the largest and most diversified
specialty materials producers in the world,
with revenues of approximately $1.9 billion
in 2002. The Company has approximately
9,650 employees worldwide and its talented
people use innovative technologies to offer
growing global markets a wide range of
specialty materials. High-value products
include nickel-based and cobalt-based alloys
and superalloys, titanium and titanium
alloys, specialty steels, super stainless
steel, exotic alloys, which include zirconium,
hafnium and niobium, tungsten materials,
and highly engineered strip and Precision
Rolled Strip® products. In addition,
we provide commodity specialty materials
such as stainless steel sheet and plate,
silicon and tool steels, and forgings and
castings. The Allegheny Technologies website
can be found at www.alleghenytechnologies.com.
Verkhnaya Salda Metallurgical
Production Association (VSMPO) – Berezniki
Titanium-Magnesium Works (AVISMA) is a
producer of ingots of commercially pure
and alloyed titanium and a complete range
of rolled, extruded and forged products
from titanium, aluminum and special steel
alloys. JSC AVISMA is a leading titanium
sponge producer. The plant produces magnesium
and high-quality titanium sponge widely
used for aerospace, shipbuilding, gas and
oil equipment, power generation, and also
titanium sponge for special alloyed steel.
VSMPO-AVISMA Group develops and applies
the most advanced technical processes and
is constantly modifying its production
facilities to meet all the most demanding
requirements of worldwide customers. VSMPO-AVISMA
Group holds 187 international quality certificates
and cooperates with 240 international companies
from 33 countries. The primary business
of VSMPO-AVISMA Group is the production
of materials for the high-tech fields of
aerospace, energy, chemical and environmental
industries. The VSMPO and AVISMA websites
can be found at www.vsmpo.ru and www.avisma.ru.