Ferraz shawmut(法雷.罗兰)改名MERSEN-2011-08-16

Carbone Lorraine ( FERRAZ SHAWMUT ) is changing its name to MERSEN

Ernest Totino, Chairman of Carbone Lorraine's Management Board, is set to propose a change in the Group's name at the forthcoming AGM on May 20.

A worldwide expert in high-performance materials for extreme environments and in the reliability and safety of electrical installations, the Group intends to change its name and revitalize its corporate identity to materialize its new business profile.

Over the past few years, Carbone Lorraine has been pursuing a strategy based on four growth drivers, i.e. sustainable development, Asia, selective acquisitions and innovation.

This strategy is predicated on an international industrial and commercial network that has recently been bolstered by new plants employing the latest technologies.

At the heart of this transformation, the Group's teams have strengthened their culture of expertise and developed dedicated solutions to stay even more closely in touch with their customers' needs.

The Group's new corporate identity is rooted in its historical values: Mersen has expertise, curiosity and an ability to innovate as its dominant genes, and a human touch, reliability, a local approach right around the world and responsibility as its core values.

This name change will focus teams' energy on a common goal. It will also help Mersen to pursue its aim of being recognized as a leading industrial player in all its markets (energy, transportation, electronics, chemicals/pharmaceuticals and process industries) and particularly in alternative energies.

Ernest Totino commented: "Mersen materializes the corporate project of a Group set on a new trajectory to become a key player in sustainable development. This name change is not an end in itself, but part of a highly motivating and galvanizing corporate project that aims to fashion a new identity predicated on one mission, one goal, a clear vision and shared values. I firmly believe that it will create value for our employees, our customers and our shareholders."

A new name for Carbone Lorraine encapsulating its personality and values MERSEN.

This new name is inspired by the historic personality of Marin Mersenne (1588-1648), who made a significant contribution to technological progress in his day. An influential, yet discreet man, Marin Mersenne was a mathematician, philosopher and physician. A friend of Descartes, Hobbes and Gassendi and a correspondent of Pascal, Fermat and Toricelli, he forged the first scientific discussion network while conducting his own theoretical, but primarily practical research work. An open-minded spirit and a man of integrity who made an unostentatious contribution to technological progress, he was a companion to the most advanced thinkers of his time.

It is also a name steeped in European history. Under the Treaty of Mersen (close to Maastricht in the Netherlands) in 870, King Charles the Bald and Louis the German, grandson of Charlemagne, divided up the land of their nephew Lothair II. The borders set were a harbinger of what later became the Kingdom of France, the Lorraine region and the Germanic Holy Roman Empire.

"Multiple areas of expertise, a single source of energy": a name with a human touch above all else. What are the only inexhaustible resources that can be counted on in the future? People, their knowledge and their inventiveness are the Group's most crucial capital. From Mersen, an expert in many different fields, flows an energy that it will harness to innovate and meet the needs of its customers.

Mersen reflects the initials of the words Materials, Electricity, Research, Sustainability and

ENergy.