SAO PAOLO, Brazil, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Marcos Lutz, Vice President of Energy and Infrastructure for CSN said, "While CSN considers its proposal to be the best choice for ensuring the long term success of the Wheeling Pittsburgh shareholders, employees and community, it appears that the shareholders have chosen that a new Board of Directors should determine the outcome. We expect that the new Board will be evaluating on a timely basis its obligations under the Merger Agreement and determining its future course.
"We continue to pursue our strategy of leveraging CSN's core strengths to create growth in key markets including North America and Europe. CSN has modern facilities, an integrated value-added supply chain, and a profit oriented culture that allow us to maintain impressive cash generation throughout the business cycles. In the North American market, our Heartland asset is an excellent base from which we intend to continue building. While we remain open to potential continued discussions with Wheeling-Pittsburgh, we are actively pursuing our other alternatives.
No matter the outcome, we hope Wheeling-Pittsburgh and its shareholders are able to determine the course that positions the Company for future growth and achieves the best value, and we wish the best to its high quality employees."
About Companhia Siderurgica Nacional
CSN is a leading global steel producer with operations in Latin America, North America, and Europe. CSN is a fully integrated steel producer, the largest coated steel producer in Brazil, with current capacity of 21.5 million tons of iron ore, 5.6 million tons of crude steel, 5.1 million tons of rolled products and 2.9 million tons of coated steel capacity.
CSN's process is based on the integrated steelworks concept that uses its own sources of iron ore and electrical power supply. In addition, CSN controls logistics assets -- ports and railways -- that enable an extremely cost efficient and reliable loading and unloading of slabs and ore for deep sea vessels. This integrated steelworks concept allows CSN to be one of the most cost competitive steel producers in the world.
CSN has had operations in the United States since 2001 through its wholly-owned subsidiary CSN LLC (formerly known as Heartland Steel) located at Terre Haute, Indiana. CSN LLC has an annual production capacity of 1 million tons of cold-rolled, galvanized and hot rolled products.
CSN shares are traded on the New York (NYSE) and Sao Paulo (BOVESPA) stock exchanges.
Contact Information:
Investors: Jose Marcos Treiger, Investors Relations Manager,
+55-11-3049-7511
Media (U.S.): Jeremy Fielding or Laura Walters, Kekst and Company,
+1-212-521-4800
Forward-Looking Statements Cautionary Language
The information contained in this news release and the investor presentation, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. In particular, statements containing estimates or projections of future operating or financial performance are not historical facts, and only represent a belief based on various assumptions, all of which are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, factors relating to (1) the risk that the businesses of CSN Holdings Corp. and Wheeling-Pittsburgh will not be integrated successfully or such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; (2) the ability of CSN, CSN Holdings Corp. and Wheeling-Pittsburgh to realize the expected benefits from the proposed strategic alliance, including expected operating efficiencies, synergies, cost savings and increased productivity, and the timing of realization of any such expected benefits; (3) lower than expected operating results for Wheeling-Pittsburgh for the remainder of 2006 or for the strategic alliance; (4) the risk of unexpected consequences resulting from the strategic alliance; (5) the risk of labor disputes, including as a result of the proposed strategic alliance or the failure to reach a satisfactory collective bargaining with the production employees; (6) the ability of the strategic alliance to operate successfully within a highly cyclical industry; (7) the extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets in which the strategic alliance will operate; (8) the risk of decreasing prices for the strategic alliance's products; (9) the risk of significant supply shortages and increases in the cost of raw materials, especially carbon slab supply, and the impact of rising natural gas prices; (10) rising worldwide transportation costs due to historically high and volatile oil prices; (11) the ability of the strategic alliance to complete, and the cost and timing of, capital improvement projects, including upgrade and expansion of Wheeling-Pittsburgh's hot strip mill and construction of an additional galvanizing line; (12) increased competition from substitute materials, such as aluminum; (13) changes in environmental and other laws and regulations to which the strategic alliance are subject; (14) adverse changes in interest rates and other financial market conditions; (15) failure of the convertible financing proposed to be provided by CSN to be converted to equity; (16) changes in United States trade policy and governmental actions with respect to imports, particularly with respect to restrictions or tariffs on the importation of carbons slabs; and (17) political, legal and economic conditions and developments in the United States and in foreign countries in which the strategic alliance will operate. There is no guarantee that the expected events, trends or results will actually occur. The statements are based on many assumptions and factors, and any changes in such assumptions or factors could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. CSN, CSN Holdings Corp. and Wheeling-Pittsburgh assume no duty to update forward-looking statements. Reference is made to a more complete discussion of forward-looking statements and applicable risks contained in CSN's and Wheeling-Pittsburgh's filings with the SEC.
