SGL Group and Samsung have established a strategic partnership for carbon fibre composite materials with the foundation of a marketing and sales joint venture.
Samsung Petrochemical and SGL Group will each hold a 50% share. The primary objective of the cooperation is to develop new industrial and electronic applications with carbon composite materials for Samsung and the Korean market. The joint venture will operate under the name “Samsung SGL Carbon Composite Materials”.
The cooperation is expected to provide a long-term supply of carbon fibre materials for Samsung and promote its use in various Samsung products and applications such as consumer electronics, medical devices and engineering applications. Carbon fibre materials from SGL Group will be preferred by the Joint Venture. In the mid-term, the joint venture will aim for business expansion over the rest of Asia.
Juergen Koehler, member of the Board of Management of SGL Group said;
In this partnership with Samsung, we combine our strengths and promote the use of carbon fiber materials in fast growing markets such as digital media. Carbon fibre materials play an increasingly important role in the material substitution process towards lighter products. Our joint venture underlines our strategy to enter new markets and develop innovative applications for our high-performance materials. We are proud to partner with Samsung.
Both companies will combine their core competencies in this marketing & sales joint venture. SGL Group contributes its know-how in high performance carbon fibre-based materials. Samsung Petrochemical shares its experiences from particular application development with the Samsung’s affiliates, which is expected to allow the company to successfully meet the requirements of new industrial products and solutions.
The joint venture will be headquartered in Ulsan/South Korea, at a Samsung Petrochemical facility with the sales and marketing located in Seoul. Following the signing of the joint venture contract the closing of the transaction is scheduled for July, pending regulatory approvals, operations are set to begin immediately thereafter.
The joint venture targets applications in the markets for electronic products, wind blades, pressure vessels, automotive and household appliances in the Far East. The Asian carbon fibre market is expected to be sharply growing in Korea and China by over 20% per year. Currently the Korean market focuses on prepreg and sportive goods. In the future though, the market is to be expanded to a wider range of industries like wind energy, electronics, automotives and others.
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