Editorial information:
Nadya Yan
Dow Europe GmbH
7 915 427 81 71
[email protected]
Public Affairs
ROSNANO
+74959885677
[email protected]
Elina Bilyovskaya
Holding Company Composite
+79162379325
[email protected]
DowAksa, Rusnano and Holding Company Composite determine joint
investments into Nanotechnology Center of Composites
Moscow, Russia — November 1, 2013 — DowAksa Advanced Composites Holdings B.V., RUSNANO and
Holding Company Composite (HCC) signed an agreement today that clarifies the terms of future
investments in the Nanotechnology Center of Composites, which is a joint project of HCC, and the Fund for
Infrastructure and Educational Programs (FIEP, a member of RUSNANO Group). Each party – HCC,
DowAksa and FIEP – will ultimately own one third of the total charter capital of the Nanotechnology Center
of Composites. When legal agreements are finalized in the next several months, DowAksa will become an
equal participant of the Nanotechnology Center of Composites. DowAksa is anticipating to take part in the
second round of financing of NCC and invest in NCC Charter Capital the amount of approximately 134
Million Rubles (approximately $4.3 Million USD) which translates to a 33 1/3 percent share. This anticipated
investment is included in the current DowAksa 10 year business plan and is funded by the initial investment
by Shareholders. HCC and FIEP are also anticipating to take part in the second round of financing and are
going to invest their portion of contribution simultaneously with DowAksa.
Mehmet Ali Berkman, Chairman of Aksa Board and Deputy Chairman of DowAksa Board of Directors;
Doug Parks, a member of the DowAksa Board of Directors and Dow’s Global Business Director for
Lightweight Materials and Governmental Markets; Anatoly Chubais, RUSNANO CEO and Chairman of
Executive Board; and Leonid Melamed, CEO of HCC, signed the agreement at the “Composites without
Borders” conference, which was part of the Open Innovations Forum agenda in Moscow, taking place on
October 31 – November 2, 2013. This document is another important milestone in the parties' cooperation,
emphasizing the intentions outlined earlier in the 2013 MOU at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Already today the Nanotechnology Center of Composites is become a foundation for start-ups in production
of polymer composite materials for the growing industrial sectors including construction, energy and
automotive. By now, only one line has been launched in the Nanotechnology Center of Composites to
produce polymer composite materials to be used in construction, energy, IT; the Сenter is also equipped
with the high-tech scientific laboratory and one of its kind multi-axial machine. The 2nd production line is to
be launched soon. The Center will showcase latest technologies of polymer composites processing in
Russia.
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DowAksa, Rusnano and Holding Company Composite determine joint investments into Nanotechnology
Center of Composites
"Dow and Aksa came together last year to produce carbon fiber, a true material of the future. With many
uses still early in their product life cycles, carbon fiber’s strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance,
longer life time, less thermal expansion and better flame resistance make it highly competitive against other
traditional composite materials,” said Mehmet Ali Berkman, Deputy Board Chairman of DowAksa. “Aksa
holds 14% of the global acrylic market, and has the capacity to greatly expand production. With demand
increasing due to strict regulations to curb CO2 emissions, such expanded capacity, along with Dow’s
superior materials and manufacturing technologies, give DowAksa the ability to meet that demand. This
new partnership will now combine Russian strength in research and development with DowAksa’s
unparalleled production infrastructure advantages to improve composite applications in many sectors,
including oil and gas, construction, wind and transport.”
“When finalized, this agreement will provide DowAksa accelerated access to the growing Russian carbon
fiber composite market with specific focus on Oil & Gas and Infrastructure applications, as well as
significantly reduce DowAksa internal investment costs by providing unique access to world class
engineering resources, pilot manufacturing equipment/capabilities, and novel product development, said
Douglas Parks, DowAksa Board Member and Dow Global Business Director for Lightweight Materials and
Government Markets. “In exchange, DowAksa will provide access to global market channels, exposure to
international partners, and the opportunity to provide services to an international audience. This is truly a
‘win-win’ scenario for all parties involved.”
“I’m confident that Nanotechnology Center of Composites will fully exploit all the opportunities brought by a
business and technological partnership with DowAksa," said Anatoly Chubais, RUSNANO CEO and
Chairman of Executive Board. “With a partner of such a caliber, our portfolio project will greatly enhance its
potential in a high importance field of carbon composite materials which are suitable for a virtually limitless
range of applications, from aeronautics to sports industry.”
“We do hope that the cooperation with global leaders in chemistry and composites industry, such as
DowAksa, will enable us to reach a new level in the development of new products from composites for
various industrial applications. We’ll have an opportunity to more effectively promote our products in Russia
CIS and across the global market,” said Leonid Melamed, CEO of HCC.
About DowAksa
Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.Ş. and The Dow Chemical Company affiliate Dow Europe Holdings B.V.
signed a preliminary agreement in 2011 for the manufacture and worldwide marketing of carbon fiber and
carbon fiber based products. Following the preliminary agreement Dow Europe Holdings B.V., which is a
100 per cent The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: Dow) owned company and the world's leading company
in acrylic fiber industry Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.Ş. (ISE: AKSA) signed the final agreement for a joint
venture of DowAksa Advanced Composites Holdings BV. Aksa and Dow have 50 per cent ownership in
DowAksa Advanced Composites Holdings BV.
DowAksa offers a wide range of products to the rapidly growing carbon fiber composite industry and
markets its products globally by developing its product range through technical service support. The new
joint venture develops solutions aiming to reduce the total cost. The company will have a much wider area
of application in various industrial markets and will achieve savings in total costs across the entire product
chain. DowAksa particularly emphasizes integrated carbon fiber composite solutions in the globally
DowAksa, Rusnano and Holding Company Composite determine joint investments into Nanotechnology
Center of Composites
developing energy, transport and infrastructure areas. More information about DowAksa can be found at
www.dowaksa.com.
About RUSNANO
RUSNANO was founded in March 2011 as an open joint stock company through reorganization of state
corporation Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies. RUSNANO's mission is to develop the Russian
nanotechnology industry through co-investment in nanotechnology projects with substantial economic
potential or social benefit. The Government of the Russian Federation owns 100 percent of the shares in
RUSNANO. Anatoly Chubais is CEO and chairman of the Executive Board of RUSNANO.
Work to establish nanotechnology infrastructure and training for nanotechnology specialists, formerly
conducted by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, has been entrusted to the Fund for
Infrastructure and Educational Programs, a non-commercial fund also established through reorganization of
the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies. For more information, visit http://en.rusnano.com.
About Holding Company Composite
Holding Company Composite was founded in 2009. Our key objective is to develop a market for
composites in Russia. The Holding unites companies producing high-modulus and high-strength carbon
fiber and carbon fiber-based fabrics, as well as manufacturing high-quality prepregs from domestic raw
materials. Our products are used in aerospace, wind energy, construction, transportation, shipbuilding,
power industry, and medicine. We are setting up a highly efficient environmentally friendly production based
on innovative continuous and discontinuous fiber production technologies. We are creating a market for the
new generation composite materials in Russia. Our mission is to achieve leadership in production, sales
and engineering of the new generation of composites on the Russian market. More information can be
found at http://www.hccomposite.com/en/.
About Nanotechnology Center of Composite (NCC)
LLC “NCC” is a joint venture of CJSC “Holding Company “Composite” and Fund for Infrastructure and
Educational Programs “Rusnano”. “NCC” was established at the end of 2011 as an open engineering
innovation center specialized on composites.
The main activities of the Center are: R&D projects; experimental design and process development works;
pilot production; tests and certification of composite materials; promotion of manufacturing companies;
providing services for small innovation companies (consulting, training, leasing of equipment, investments).
The Center primarily develops composite products for the construction, civil infrastructure, machinery and
automotive industry. Production areas of the Center are located in Technopolis “Moskva” (former car factory
“Moskvich”). Center is equipped with modern multifunctional machines for production and testing FRP
products (GFRP, CFRP, basalt FRP, aramid based FRP). Production assets include: filament winding line;
pultrusion line; extrusion line; clean room; automate cutting machine for fabrics and prepregs; hand and
spray lay-up area; injection-molding machine; painting section and mechanical treatment section; metal
workshop; mechanical tests laboratory; NDT laboratory; construction building laboratory
http://www.nccrussia.com/en/