Songwon and HPL to form a Joint Venture for Polymer Stabilizers

Ulsan, Korea – October 29, 2010 – Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd. and HPL Additives Ltd. announce that they have signed a Letter of Intent to form Songwon HPL Additives PVT LTD.

Accordingly, HPL will transfer all its business and assets related to Polymer Stabilizers to the new entity which will be owned 40% by HPL and 60% by Songwon. The parties expect the new company to be operational by Q2 2011, subject to completion of all necessary formalities. The new company will capitalize on Songwon’s and HPL’s respective strengths to serve the global market.

Jongho Park, Chairman and CEO of Songwon Group, commented: “We continue to be committed to the Polymer Stabilizers market and we believe that the synergies we have identified with HPL activities in this area will be beneficial for the market and our customers. The JV will allow the integration of production capabilities in India with Songwon’s world scale production capabilities in Korea. Together, we will elevate our current offering to the market by adding HPL’s existing product range to Songwon’s and leveraging Songwon’s global network for sales, technical support, logistic, customer service and first class regulatory and EH&S expertise. In addition Songwon and HPL share a common vision to establish a local presence in the fastest growing region, the Middle East.”

Umesh Anand, Managing Director of HPL stated; “ We are very pleased to join forces with Songwon and believe this alliance will deliver benefits to our customers deriving from the synergies in combining our joint manufacturing and R&D capabilities. In addition, this will further strengthen our position in India and meet the fast growing demand of the polymer industry in the Middle East. HPL will continue to remain committed to grow and develop its other core businesses such as blowing agents and other specialty chemicals.”

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