Komatsu and Linde agreed to buy KFL shares by Komatsu

Komatsu Ltd. ("Komatsu") has entered into a definitive agreement with Linde AG of Germany ("Linde"), whereby the parties agreed to terminate the Joint Venture Agreement related to their joint venture company, Komatsu Forklift Co., Ltd. ("KFL"), and Komatsu agreed to buy the 35 percent of KFL's shares currently held by Linde and to make KFL a wholly-owned subsidiary of Komatsu. The parties expect to complete the share transfer in early August of this year.

Since May 2000, Komatsu and Linde have continued to cooperate with each other in the forklift truck business on a global basis. As a part of the cooperation, Komatsu and Linde reached a basic agreement in May 2002 to transform KFL into a joint-venture company. Since then, Komatsu and Linde have developed the cooperative relationship based upon the strong mutual trust. Komatsu and Linde have concluded that it is better to terminate the existing capital relations in regard to KFL and actively proceed with their current joint projects in Europe, Asia and Japan as independent partners in the future.

Currently, in Europe, Linde's subsidiary in Italy, OM Carrelli Elevatori S.p.A., distributes KFL products as the distributor in the region, and at the same time, manufactures KFL products on a license basis. In Southeast Asia, KFL's subsidiary in Singapore, Komatsu Forklift Asia Pte. Ltd., sells OEM products supplied by Linde's subsidiary in Germany, Still GmbH, under the Komatsu brand. In addition, in Japan, KFL is the distributor of Linde products and distributes Linde products through KFL's domestic sales network under the Linde brand.

[Outline of Komatsu Forklift Co., Ltd.]
Location:2-3-4, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Establishment:February 1948
Capitalization:JPY 13,033 million
Sales:JPY 123.5 billion
(Consolidated, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006)
President:Takeo Shibuya
No. of Employees:3,434 (Consolidated, as of March 31, 2006)
Line of Business:Forklift trucks, warehouse equipment, transport system


[Outline of Linde AG]
Location:Wiesbaden, Germany
Establishment:June 1879
Capitalization:Euro 307 million
Sales (CY2005):Euro 9,501 million (Fiscal year ended December 31, 2005)
President:Wolfgang Reitzle
No. of Employees:Approx. 42,400 (as of December 31, 2005)
Line of Business:Gas and engineering, material handling

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