• Focus on team philosophy: support for a team sport

Wiesbaden, June 30, 2007. The SGL Group – The Carbon Company – will be the main sponsor of the German cycling team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Today the Company explained the reasons for this sponsorship of the sport at the official presentation of the German cycling team, “SGL Team Beijing” of the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer e.V. (BDR) [German Cycling Association] in Wiesbaden:

1. In recent years, the SGL Group has achieved a solid and very successful turnaround. The Company knows what it takes to achieve this: clear and strictly followed processes. The result is a realignment based on profitable growth, particularly in the area of Advanced Materials with innovative products and solutions for customer markets, e.g. in the wind energy, solar, LED, and lithium ion battery/accumulator industries.
   
   To achieve a turnaround, one needs to get a chance. Customers and shareholders gave the SGL Group this chance and the Company used its own strengths to take it. The Company wants to be a partner to the BDR as it believes in the processes and the consistency which will be necessary for a turnaround in cycling. As the main sponsor, however, the SGL Group will provide the association and its millions of sportsmen, particularly the sportspeople who make up the Olympic team, the chance for a turnaround. The aim is to put Olympic success within the reach of the German cycling team.
   
   
2. One main reason for the Company sponsoring this sport is the relationship between its product portfolio and cycling. The SGL Group is the only European manufacturer among eight worldwide carbon fiber manufacturers that produces materials for sports applications such as open sea racing yachts, golf clubs, kayaks, surfboards etc. High-performance racing cycles are now made almost exclusively from carbon fiber composites. Although these are extremely light, they are less prone to breakage and have a higher tensile strength than steel.
   
   
3. Another reason for sponsoring the team is the geographical focus of the SGL Group’s growth strategy in Asia, particularly China. The Company is supporting a German sports team for the Olympic Games in a country where the SGL Group has several production sites.
   
   
4. For the SGL Group as the leading worldwide manufacturer of carbon products with the broadest base of core expertise, portfolio and global presence, the focus is always on the sum of all employee performances. Team performance is more important than individual performance both for a company and for the “SGL Team Beijing”. For this reason, the SGL Group is supporting a team sport based on the Olympic philosophy.

About SGL Group – The Carbon Company
The SGL Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of carbon-based products. It has a  comprehensive portfolio ranging from carbon and graphite products to carbon fibers and composites. SGL Group’s core competencies are its expertise in high-temperature technology as well as its applications and engineering know-how gained over many years. These competencies enable  the Company to make full use of its broad material base. SGL Group’s carbon-based materials combine several unique properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity, heat and corrosion resistance as well as high mechanical strength combined with low weight. Due to the paradigm shift in the use of materials as a result of the worldwide shortage of energy and raw materials, there is a growing demand for SGL Group’s high-performance materials and products from an increasing number of industries. Carbon and graphite products are  used whenever other materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, plastics, wood etc. fail due to their limited properties. Products from the SGL Group are used predominantly in the steel, aluminum, automotive, chemical and glass/ceramics industries. However, manufacturers in the semiconductor, battery, solar/wind energy, environmental protection, aerospace and defense industries as well as in the nuclear energy industry also figure among the Company’s customers.

With around 30 production sites in Europe, North America and Asia as well as a service network covering more than 100 countries, the SGL Group is a company with a global presence. In 2006, the Company’s  workforce of 5,250 generated  sales of € 1.2 billion. The Company’s head office is located in Wiesbaden/Germany.

Important note:
This press release contains statements on future developments that are based on currently available information and that involve risks and uncertainties that could lead to actual results deviating from these forward-looking statements. The statements on future developments are not to be understood as guarantees. The future developments and events are dependent on a number of factors, they include various risks and unanticipated circumstances and are based on assumptions that may not be correct. These risks and uncertainties include, for example, unforeseeable changes in political, economic and business conditions, particularly in the area of electrosteel production, the competitive situation, interest rate and currency developments, technological developments and other risks and unanticipated circumstances. We see other risks in price developments, unexpected developments relating to acquired and consolidated companies and in the ongoing cost optimization programs. SGL Carbon does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.