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Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Officially Launch Metals Joint Venture

With this joint venture, both partners are forming a globally-operating complete provider of plants, products and services for the iron, steel and nonferrous industries. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery (MHMM) — an MHI consolidated group company with equity participation by Hitachi Ltd. and IHI Corp. — holds a 51% stake and Siemens a 49% stake in the joint venture.
 
“Our joint venture comes at a time of challenging business environments and high market price pressure and when the steel industry has experienced a strong regional shift to Asia. With the combination of the competencies and regional presence of both partners, we have formed a high-performance company for the metals industry. Primetals Technologies is a leading, innovative and globally active technology provider and a reliable partner for its customers, backed by two strong mother companies,” said Yasukuni Yamasaki, chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Primetals Technologies.
 
The joint venture will focus fully on the iron, steel and nonferrous business sectors. The two partners are uniting their respective technological legacies and industrial strengths in the joint venture. Both companies complement each other with regard to their product portfolios, production know-how and geographical distribution. While the technology strengths of the former Siemens VAI Metals Technologies lie in particular in iron and steel production, continuous casting, automation, environmental technologies and lifecycle services, MHI’s technology competence is primarily focused on hot and cold rolling, processing as well as production expertise. With the combined portfolio, Primetals Technologies offers its customers solutions for the entire value chain in iron, steel, and nonferrous production that extends from technologies for the treatment of raw materials to processing and finishing at the end of the production process, including the related lifecycle services.
 
The shareholders have nominated five directors to manage the new company: three directors from MHI — including the CEO — and two directors from Siemens. The names and functions are as follows:
  • Yasukuni Yamasaki, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board
  • Peter Schraut, Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
  • Heiner Roehrl, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – upstream
  • Ryoichi Nishi, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – downstream
  • Etsuro Hirai, Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Primetals Technologies will operate with 9,000 employees at more than 40 locations based in Asia, Europe, Russia, the Americas and Africa to serve customers in the global metals market. The company’s structures will be lean and tailored to market requirements and the international competitive environment. The company headquarters will be located in London to underline the intention of the two companies to strike out on a new path together. The headquarters of the business segments and operational responsibility for the respective global business activities will remain in the principal locations of Linz (Austria), Erlangen (Germany), Tokyo and Hiroshima (Japan). China, India, Japan, the U.S.A., Germany and Austria have been defined as key regions for sales and services.
 
The company name and logo emphasizes that the new company is passionate about metals. Primetals Technologies is a combination of the English words prime, metals and technologies. “Prime” stands for the highest quality, “metals” stands for the passion of the new company and “technologies” shows the strength that results from the partnership of two strong players in the metals market. The name underlines the position of Primetals Technologies as the preeminent global authority for metals excellence. The logo circle symbolizes the forging of two great companies into a single, unified entity. The orange color signifies the temperature at which liquid steel becomes solid steel – the point where the outstanding technological strengths of Siemens VAI Metals Technologies in the liquid phase meet the rolling and processing excellence of MHMM in the solid phase.
 

Primetals Technologies Ltd., headquartered in Frimley, Camberley, United Kingdom, is a worldwide leading engineering, plant-building and lifecycle partner for the metals industry. The company offers a complete technology, product and service portfolio that includes the integrated electrics, automation and environmental solutions. This covers every step of the iron and steel production chain that extends from the raw materials to the finished product — in addition to the latest rolling solutions for the nonferrous metals sector. Primetals Technologies is a joint venture of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Siemens. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery (MHMM) — an MHI consolidated group company with equity participation by Hitachi, Ltd. and IHI Corporation — holds a 51% stake and Siemens a 49% stake in the company. The company employs around 9,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.primetals.com.