PLANSEE Holding AG and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. have reached a basic agreement by signing a Letter of Intent to merge their relevant power metallurgy products business activities under a new joint holding company to be established in Luxembourg. It is planned that PLANSEE and Mitsubishi will hold each a 50% equity share in this joint venture. The Sinterstahl group, the PM business subsidiary of PLANSEE, with plants in Germany, Spain and the U.S., and the PM business of Mitsubishi with plants in Japan, U.S., Malaysia and China will be transferred to the new joint venture, which will focus on the global engineering and production of structural parts made of iron, steel, bronze, aluminum and titanium for engine, transmission and chassis applications. The closing of the transaction is planned for September 30, 2005.