Nichiha to locate $78 million manufacturing facility in Bibb County

ATLANTA, June 23, 2006– Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that Nichiha USA, Inc. will invest $78 million to build a manufacturing facility in Macon, Ga. The 60-acre plant, located in the Airport South Industrial Park, will employ 100 Georgians.
'We are very pleased that Nichiha has chosen Georgia for its first location in the United States,' said Governor Sonny Perdue. 'Our wide range of business resources and our strategic location in the center of the Southeast, which is the fastest-growing region in the nation, make Georgia a wonderful launching pad for any company.'

Nichiha USA, Inc. sells patterned fiber cement panels used in commercial, residential, and multi-family properties. The new Macon facility will produce interior and exterior fiber cement panels. Construction on the Macon plant began this month, and production is scheduled to begin in late 2007.

'The opening of the Macon plant is another key component of our overall strategy to increase the use of fiber cement products worldwide,' stated Tetsuro Yoshida, chairman and CEO of Nichiha Corporation. 'We see the Macon site as the first in a long run of new sites in the United States and abroad.'

Katsunori (Tiger) Takamitsu, President of Nichiha USA, Inc. added: 'The building of the plant falls in line with our corporate strategy to begin domestic production of our products. After studying a variety of locations across the U.S, we felt the Macon site best met our logistical and production requirements.'

'Nichiha USA, Inc. has made a strong statement of support for the pro-business attitude of Macon and Bibb County,' said Steve Kruger, chairman of the Macon Economic Development Commission. 'This is another example of how this community can come together to provide the environment necessary to attract good, quality companies such as Nichiha.'

Nichiha USA, Inc. is a U.S. subsidiary corporation of the Nichiha Corporation, which maintains 11 manufacturing plants in Japan and two in China. The Nichiha Corporation, a technologically advanced worldwide fiber cement company, has been manufacturing fiber cement products in Japan for more than 30 years. While Nichiha USA, Inc. has been doing business in the United States since 1998, this new location in Macon marks its first manufacturing plant in the U.S. For more information, visit www.nichiha.com.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state's sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a location for film, video and music projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. For more information, visit www.georgia.org.