Alcoa Completes Acquisition of Fairchild Fasteners; Enhances Position as Aerospace Supplier of Choice

Business Wire, Dec 3, 2002

Business Editors

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2002

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) announced today that it had completed its acquisition of the assets of Fairchild Fasteners, a leading supplier of aerospace fasteners, from The Fairchild Corporation (NYSE:FA).

Fairchild Fasteners is one of the world's premiere manufacturers of precision fastening systems and components. Its products are used primarily in the construction and maintenance of commercial and military aircraft. Fairchild supplies fasteners to the aftermarket for repair and maintenance of aircraft, a segment in which Alcoa has not been a major participant.

Fairchild will be combined with Huck, two of the best brands in this segment, into Alcoa Fastening Systems ("AFS."). By leveraging Alcoa's advanced aerospace research with the broad line of Huck and Fairchild products, AFS will become the premiere technology partner in this business, offering solutions to Alcoa's major aerospace customers.

Alcoa estimates that the acquisition can yield $50 million before taxes in synergies over three years and $70 million in reduced working capital through deployment of the Alcoa Business System and increased use of shared services. The acquisition will be accretive to earnings by the end of the first full year despite current weakness in the aerospace markets.

Fairchild Fasteners' major customers include Airbus, Boeing, General Electric, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, UTC, Wesco, Pentacon, and the U.S. government. The company has 4600 employees and operates 15 primary manufacturing facilities in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina, and is active in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components, Alcoa also markets consumer brands including Reynolds Wrap(R) foils and plastic wraps, Alcoa(R) wheels, and Baco(R) household wraps. Among its other businesses are vinyl siding, closures, precision castings, and electrical distribution systems for cars and trucks. The company has 129,000 employees in 38 countries.

Forward Looking Statement

Certain statements relate to future events and expectations and as such constitute forward-looking statements involving known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Alcoa to be different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include the risks that (a) estimated cost savings from the Alcoa Business System and shared services will not be reflected in earnings, (b) projected synergies will not be realized, (c) unexpected economic or other factors will result in the acquisition not being accretive to earnings by the end of the first full year and (d) other risk factors summarized in Alcoa's 2001 10-K report and other SEC reports.