Apr 12, 2004 CHEMICAL WEEK NEWSWIRE

Dow Corning to Emerge From Bankruptcy June 1; Plans Job Cuts

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has submitted a plan under which Dow Corning would emerge from bankruptcy on June 1. Judge Denise Page Hood recently denied a motion by Dow Corning's commercial creditors that had sought to impose steep “default”interest rates on the company's debt, which was purchased by various financial institutions. The company successfully challenged the creditors' request on the grounds that the company is in bankruptcy, not in default. Attorneys for both sides are reviewing the judge's decision on the interest rate issue, and a hearing is set for April 29. The bankruptcy emergence date is contingent on the company reaching an agreement with commercial creditors on interest rates. Silicone breast implant plaintiffs who agreed on a $3.2-billion settlement plan in 1995 will begin receiving their payments soon thereafter, Dow Corning says. Separately, the company also says it will cut 250 jobs worldwide, about 3% of the total. The cuts will be “mostly in the U.S,” Dow Corning says. Affected employees will be notified by mid-April, the company says.

Dow Corning at a Glance
http://www.dowcorning.com/content/about/default.asp

Dow Corning was established in 1943 specifically to explore the potential of silicones. It was created as a joint venture between Corning Glass Works (now Corning, Incorporated) and The Dow Chemical Company.

Today Dow Corning provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation, offering more than 7,000 products and services, Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning’s annual sales are outside the United States

Dow Corning Bankruptcy
http://www.courttv.com/archive/legaldocs/business/corning.html

This is Dow Corning's statement on the petition it filed for Chapter 11 protection from liability lawsuits over its involvement in the manufacture of silicone breast implants.

autoimmune disease:自己免疫疾患

DATE: May 15, 1995

DOW CORNING VOLUNTARILY FILES FOR CHAPTER 11

Dow Corning corporation today announced that it has voluntarily filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code with the United States Bankruptcy Court in Bay City, Michigan.

In announcing today's Chapter 11 filing, Dow Corning's management emphasized that its underlying business remains strong and that is customers will not be directly affected by this action. "Dow Corning will continue to supply products to our customers, and compensate our suppliers and employees as we have in the past," explained Richard A. Hazleton, Dow Corning chairman and chief executive officer. "We decided to take this action while we are in a position of financial strength, with the cash to continue operating our business without disruption.

"We now believe this is our only reasonable choice for four principal reasons. First, attorneys with lawsuits outside of the global settlement have not reduced their exorbitant demands, threatening our long-term business and, therefore, our ability to fund the global settlement. Despite the scientific evidence showing no link between implants and disease, we were faced with preparing for nearly 200 cases in the next 6 months. This represented a potentially enormous financial and management drain which threatened our business.
Our Chapter 11 filing immediately stops all lawsuits against the company," Hazleton explained.

Second, when we file our financial reorganization plan, we hope to preserve our participation in a local settlement, to which we have agreed to contribute $ 2 billion. Even so, we are concerned about the settlement, since many are calling for hundreds of millions or even billions of more dollars and are predicting thousands of additional lawsuits. We are continuing discussions with global settlement attorneys to reach a satisfactory agreement. But, we have consistently said that we cannot both fund the global settlement and afford large numbers of lawsuits outside of the settlement," Hazleton said.

"Third, several recent credit rating downgrades have confirmed the financial community's long-term concerns about the lack of a certain and predictable financial resolution to this controversy. This understandable concern is in spite of the underlying strength of our business, which the ratings agencies understand. The Chapter 11 process will provide closure by resolving all breast implant financial claims," Hazleton explained.

"Finally, some of our insurance carriers have not accepted their responsibility to commit to pay their share of the more than $1.5 billion which we believe they will owe us.
As of March 31, 1995, we had received less than $100 million.
We believe we will eventually be reimbursed, but we are not satisfied with our progress," Hazleton said.

"This was a difficult decision," explained Hazleton. "We carefully considered what effect this would have on our customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, well as women who have our implants. In our judgment, the current and evolving circumstances surrounding the breast implant controversy reached the point that we had to take this action now to preserve both the fundamental strength of our business operations and our ability to fairly compensate all women with breast implant claims.

"We are disappointed that our efforts to resolve this controversy without resorting to a Chapter 11 filing were not successful. We negotiated a $4.25 billion global settlement, including $2 billion finding from Dow Corning over 30 years.
We argued or case in court with a good deal of success. We also committed more than $30 million in additional research to address the remaining questions women have about their implants, and we funded an implant removal reimbursement program for women who wanted to have their implants removed but lacked the financial means to do so," Hazleton said.
"Research has not shown a link between breast implants and the diseases alleged in lawsuits. Research from prestigious institutions like Harvard University, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan and others has consistently found that women with implants are no more likely to contract disease than women without implants. In fact, recently, both the French and British governments have reviewed the available research and concluded that women with implants face no greater risk of developing autoimmune disease than the general population, Hazleton stated.
"Our focus now will be to maintain our strong business momentum by continuing to meet our customers' needs. We also intend to work closely with our key creditors and the creditor committees once they are appointed to complete our financial restructuring and emerge from Chapter 11 as soon as possible, although the entire process will probably take two years or more. We have started this process by filing motions today with the court that will minimize any disruption to our normal day-to-day operations," Hazleton explained.
"We at Dow Corning deeply appreciate the outstanding support we have received from our customers, employees, suppliers, business and financial partners, and communities throughout this controversy. We intend to demonstrate that their confidence in us has been well placed by supplying quality products and growing our business throughout and following this Chapter 11 proceeding," Hazleton concluded.

Dow Corning Corp., a global leader in silicon-based materials, is a Michigan corporation with shares equally owned by The Dow Chemical Co. and Corning Inc. More than half of Dow Cornings sales are outside the U.S.

2006/8/8 Dow Corning

Dow Corning And WACKER Receive Government Approval to Build Siloxanes Facility in China
http://www.dowcorning.com/content/news/zhangjiagang.asp?DCWS=&DCWSS=

Dow Corning Corporation (Midland, Michigan, USA) and Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany) announce that their manufacturing joint venture company Dow Corning (Zhangjiagang) Co, Ltd. received official approval from the Chinese government to jointly build a world-class siloxanes manufacturing facility in China.

The new complex will be located in the Jiangsu Yangtze River Chemical Industrial Park, Zhangjiagang 張家港 City, Jiangsu Province. Land preparation and early construction tasks are under way. It will benefit the growth of the silicone industry in China by providing a stable and quality supply of silicone basic materials, “building blocks” for many different products that are used by various industries. Dow Corning and WACKER also established another joint venture company to build and operate a fumed silica plant on this integrated manufacturing site.

The chemical park in Zhangjiagang provides distinct advantages, especially superb port facilities, and access to quality local talent. The companies very much appreciate the cooperation and support of Chinese government at local, provincial and central levels to help identify and approve construction of the new plant at this strategic location.

Under the joint venture agreement, Dow Corning will be responsible for the construction and development of the joint siloxanes production facility, and WACKER for the joint fumed silica plant 乾式シリカ. The silica plant is already under construction. Siloxane is a key starting material for the production of silicones. Major silicone application industries include: construction, chemicals, cosmetics, textiles, automotive, paper and electronics. Fumed silica is used as an active filler in silicone elastomers, as a viscosity-adjusting agent in coatings, printing inks, adhesives, unsaturated polyester resins and plastisols or as a flow aid, for example in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food-processing industries.

Dow Corning and WACKER each view the Asia region and China as a high priority geography with the potential for immense growth over the next several years. Investing in a state-of-the-art integrated siloxane and fumed silica manufacturing facility will help each of the companies to better serve their own downstream customers in this important region.

Dow Corning and WACKER will continue independently to serve their respective customers. Both companies will develop and operate separately their manufacturing facilities for finished products.

About WACKER
WACKER (www.wacker.com) is a globally operating chemical company headquartered in Munich, Germany. With a wide range of state-of-the-art specialty products, WACKER is a leader in numerous industrial sectors. Its products support countless high-growth end-user sectors such as photovoltaics, electronics, pharmaceuticals and household/personal care products. The WACKER Group posted sales of around EUR 2.76 billion in 2005, of which some 80 percent were generated outside Germany. WACKER employs around 14,400 people at 22 production sites in Europe, the Americas and Asia, and about 100 sales offices worldwide. Wacker Chemie AG is listed at the Frankfurt (Germany) Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000WCH8881).

About Dow Corning
Dow Corning (www.dowcorning.com) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation, offering more than 7,000 products and services, Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning’s annual sales are outside the United States. It recorded $3.88 billion in global sales in 2005.

Dow Corning was established in 1943 specifically to explore the potential of silicones. It was created as a joint venture between Corning Glass Works (now Corning, Incorporated) and The Dow Chemical Company.