| AGREEMENT |
- Eastman Chem. Voridian Div. - Hanwha Chem. |
| COOPERATION |
Eastman and Hanwha Announce Joint Development and Licensing Program for Energx Technology KINGSPORT, Tenn., June 10, 2003 - Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), through its Voridian Division, today announced that it has signed a joint development and licensing agreement with Hanwha Chemical Corporation to further enhance Eastman's proprietary Energx® DCX polyethylene technology and allow Hanwha to sublicense the technology to others. Hanwha, with headquarters in Seoul, Republic of Korea, licensed Energx DCX technology from Eastman in late 2001 and commercialized products based upon the technology in 2002. Thomas A. Smith, group vice president, Voridian Division, said that the joint development and licensing arrangement with Hanwha builds on the strengths of both companies to further develop the technology on UNIPOL and SPHERILENE reactor systems. "Hanwha has proven to be very talented in the use of Energx and has the people and facilities to help us optimize the technology on these two important process platforms," Smith said. "On the licensing front, their presence in and understanding of the Asian PE markets for Energx improve our ability to provide this technology around the world." Dr. Greg W. Nelson, vice president of technology, Voridian Division stated that this agreement is one of a growing number of collaborations between Voridian and other companies to use the talents of Voridian and its partners to increase speed to market of new products and process technologies. "Voridian is committed to looking both inside and outside of our own company to find ways to make things happen," Nelson said. "We are open to, and actively seeking, collaboration partners like Hanwha, with a strong bias toward action." Anthony A. Ponder, director, Global Technology Ventures, Voridian, said that Energx offers gas-phase polyethylene producers an ideal solution to improve product performance in the increasingly demanding linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) market. "Its installation is quick and inexpensive. It enables the manufacture of value-added products, which are readily accepted in the LLDPE market, offering essentially any gas phase LLDPE facility a way to improve competitiveness." Ponder noted that both companies have strict confidentiality agreements in place with the providers of the original technology platforms and that the companies will maintain a wall of isolation to prevent unintended disclosure of technology. Headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., Eastman manufactures and markets plastics, chemicals and fibers. The company employs approximately 15,800 people in more than 30 countries and had 2002 sales of US$5.3 billion. For more information about Eastman and its products visit www.eastman.com. For more information about Voridian, visit www.voridian.com. Media Contact: Tracy Bledsoe 423-224-0498 / tracyb@eastman.com Licensing Contact: Anthony Ponder 423-229-6586 / aaponder@voridian.com Energx is a registered service mark of Eastman Chemical Company. Unipol is a registered trademark of Univation Technologies. Spherilene is a registered trademark of Basell Technology Company B.V. |
| UPDATE | 10.06.03 |
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