Joint Venture

ABB Ltd
25 August 2000

ABB Corporate Communications, Zurich   ABB Lummus Global, Bloomfield NJ, U.S.A.
John Fox                               Maria Principle
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ABB in partnership to acquire polypropylene technology

Extends technology portfolio into fast-growing market

Zurich, Switzerland, August 25 - ABB, the global technology company, said today
it has entered a majority joint venture to acquire a polypropylene technology
that will extend its petrochemicals business into a new, high-growth market. 

The joint venture with Equistar Chemicals of the U.S. will purchase the Novolen
(R) polypropylene technology - including catalyst, process and product
technologies - from Targor GmbH, a subsidiary of Germany's BASF AG. It will also
acquire the rights to market and license Targor's metallocene polypropylene
technology, used in the production of a new generation of high performance
plastics. Targor will retain the right to use this technology for its own
products.

The joint venture, called Novolen Technology Holdings C.V., will be 80-percent
owned by ABB and 20-percent owned by Equistar. Financial terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Pending customary approvals, the acquisition of
the Targor intellectual properties - no physical assets are included - is
expected to close in the third quarter of this year. In a separate transaction,
Targor's catalyst manufacturing facility in Spain will be purchased by
U.S.-based Engelhard Corporation, who will also enter into an exclusive catalyst
supply agreement with the joint venture.

ABB said the joint venture takes its petrochemicals technology business into a
new and fast-growing market. ABB, through its ABB Lummus Global unit, is already
a world leader in the supply of ethylene and propylene technologies. Demand for
polypropylene - a polymer used in a wide variety of consumer products - is
growing significantly faster than the world's industrial economies.
Metallocene-related products are expected to command a growing share of the
polypropylene market.

'Our strategy is to expand our technology portfolio into high-growth areas that
also build on ABB's existing strengths,' said ABB President and CEO Goran
Lindahl. 'By bringing this key petrochemical technology into the company, this
joint venture will give us top-line growth and good profitability. It's part of
our strategy to deliver technology solutions that make our customers more
competitive.'

ABB said it expects the joint venture to generate business in technology
licensing, catalyst sales, and turnkey project development. Assessments of the
total available market in these areas indicate a demand, aggregated over the
next ten years, at more than US$ 15 billion. The joint venture announced today
places ABB among the top three suppliers in this dynamic market, the company
said.

The ABB Group (www.abb.com) serves customers in power transmission and
distribution; automation; oil, gas, and petrochemicals; building technologies;
and in financial services. With novel IT applications, tailored software
solutions, growing eBusiness and a fast-expanding knowledge and service base,
ABB is building links to the new economy. The ABB Group employs about 160,000
people in more than 100 countries.