Carpenter Finalizes Joint Venture In India.

WYOMISSING, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 1999--Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE:CRS) and Kalyani Steels Ltd. have finalized a joint venture that establishes new specialty steel manufacturing and distribution companies in Pune, India, to serve growing markets in that country and in other parts of Asia.

The joint venture agreement was subject to approvals by the Government of India, which the companies have received. Carpenter and Kalyani Steels have now closed on the sale of shares in two new joint venture companies:

-- Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels Ltd. The new company purchased

Kalyani Steels Ltd.'s existing alloy steel manufacturing

facility, located in Pune. Carpenter owns 26 percent of the joint

venture facility and Kalyani Steels holds 74 percent. Carpenter's

initial investment in the manufacturing joint venture is $10

million.

-- Kalyani Carpenter Metal Centres Ltd. Carpenter owns 51 percent

and Kalyani Steels holds 49 percent of this new specialty steels

distribution company.

The Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels mill will be upgraded to produce specialty steels, including stainless, valve and tool steels. Carpenter expects to invest about $8 million in the joint venture over the next four years. Carpenter will help specify the equipment needed to upgrade the plant and will share proportionally in new equipment costs.

Carpenter also will transfer technology to the joint venture in exchange for royalties. The joint venture expects to begin producing tool steel in Pune within a few months. Baba N. Kalyani, chairman of the Kalyani Group, is chairman of the manufacturing joint venture.

Kalyani Carpenter Metal Centres will distribute the specialty steel products of the manufacturing joint venture. The new company began operating an office in Pune in March; during the next few years, it plans to establish distribution service centers in the major steel consuming areas of India.

A. Stewart Dunford, a marketing executive and longtime Carpenter employee, is managing director of the distribution joint venture and has been placed as an expatriate in India.

By establishing the joint venture, Carpenter expects to serve both the Indian and export markets more cost-effectively than through exports from its U.S. facilities. Specialty steels made by the manufacturing joint venture will be exported through Carpenter's distribution companies worldwide.

Kalyani Steels, and ISO 9002 certified company, employs 880 people in Pune. It is part of the Kalyani Group, which had annual sales of more than 16,000 million rupees ($400 million) in the year ending March 31, 1998.

Kalyani Steels produces alloy steel for virtually all the leading forging companies in India, and for other Kalyani manufacturing companies involved in automotive, electronics and engineering industries.

Carpenter manufacturers and distributes stainless steels, specialty alloys including titanium alloys, and various engineered products. The Wyomissing, Pa., company employs 5,900 people worldwide and had sales of about $1.2 billion in fiscal year 1998 (ended June 30, 1998). Further information about Carpenter is available on the Internet at http://www.cartech.com.