SGL Carbon Become The Main Sponsor of The German Cycling Team

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.