Sandvik Hard Materials purchases minority stake in Chinese metal powder company

Sandvik Hard Materials, within the Sandvik Tooling business area, has today reached an agreement to purchase a 10% equity stake in the Chinese metal powder producer Gesac. Gesac focuses mainly on producing powders in tungsten carbide and other related materials. Gesac has annual sales of approximately SEK 500 M. The company is located in Xiamen, on the coast of the Taiwan Strait. The transaction is subject to approval of the Chinese authorities. Tungsten carbide is an important material in the production of wear-resistant components, metal-cutting and mining tools. China produces approximately 80% of the annual world output of tungsten. Xiamen Tungsten Corporation and A.L.M.T Corp., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, are the other owners. Sandviken, 19 September 2005 Sandvik AB; (publ)