Joint-venture

On 23rd January 2006, the CEO of Hangzhou Hangyang, Mr. Mao ShaoRong, and the directors of Messer, Stefan Messer and Dr. Hans-Gerd Wienands, signed a joint venture agreement in Sulzbach on collaboration in plant construction. Messer alreday has over ten years' experience with HangYang air separation plants in China. On this basis, and in order to ensure our continued growth, a cooperation agreement was sigend between Messer and HangYang in 2005. The first tangible result of this agreement is the air separation plant in Smederevo, Serbia. This symbiosis of cost-effective production in China, European technology and professional project management is the basis for our competitiveness in the plant construction sector. Cryogenic Engineering GmbH commenced its business since march 2006. Ms. Hui Wang and Mr. Gerfried Schmidt have been appointed as directors by Hangyang and Messer respectively. In the Initial phase, the team will be supplemented by one process engineer and one project engineer. Of course, the home teams from Hangyang and Messer Production & Engineering will also provide active support to this, the youngsest member of the Messer family.