Atrium Companies, Inc. Announces Joint Venture Agreement with Affiliate of Aurora Plastics, Inc.

Business Editors

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2003

Atrium Companies, Inc. ("Atrium"), one of the largest non-wood window manufacturers in the United States, today announced it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Aurora Terra LLC ("Aurora").

Aurora is an affiliate of Aurora Plastics, Inc., a leading vinyl resin compounder, based in Aurora, Ohio. Under the terms of the agreement, Aurora will sublease property from Atrium and construct a vinyl compounding facility in Welcome, N.C., adjacent to Atrium's current vinyl extrusion and vinyl window fabrication plants.

The new facility will have annual compounding capabilities of approximately 100 million pounds of vinyl compound, the primary raw material used in the vinyl extrusion process. One-half of the production capacity will be reserved for Atrium's use while the remaining half will be sold to third parties. The facility will house the latest technology available in hardware and software for compounding PVC and compatible materials to meet the growth and many changing needs of both Atrium's and Aurora's customers. The expected costs to construct this facility are estimated to exceed $4 million and will be paid by Aurora. The construction of the facility will begin this month and it is expected to be operational in September. Upon completion of the facility, Atrium will source 100% of its North Carolina vinyl compound needs from the joint venture. At the end of four years, Atrium will have an option to purchase the operation from Aurora.

"We are very pleased to be partnering with Aurora on this transaction," stated Jeff L. Hull, Atrium's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This continues our strategic goal of vertical integration by taking us one step further up the supply chain. Aurora brings the technological expertise, while Atrium adds the initial volume to make greenfielding an operation like this profitable almost immediately. We fully expect to realize significant cost savings from this transaction beginning in the latter part of this year when the facility becomes operational," adds Hull.

Dennis Radkowsky, Aurora's President, stated that, "We established our relationship with Atrium almost two years ago from our Ohio facility. Putting a state-of-the-art facility in North Carolina will give us the opportunity to expand our business in PVC compounds and add capacity to insure our ability to meet our customers' needs. The growing relationship between Atrium and Aurora helps us to secure a base load to this new blend plant and will allow us to more cost effectively supply Atrium." Mr. Radkowsky also added that, "We have spent a significant amount of time assessing the opportunities between Aurora and Atrium and concluded this made an enormous amount of sense."

Statements in this press release, other than statements of historical information, are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the risks associated with the ability to consummate the transactions set forth above, as well as operating risks. Those and other risks are described in Atrium's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") made over the last 12 months, copies of which are available from the SEC or may be obtained upon request from Atrium.