May 23, 2001

Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. and Tadano Ltd. have reached a basic agreement relating to a strategic alliance in the field of the cable crane (CC) business and the mobile crane (MC) business. Sumitomo, Hitachi and Tadano will cooperate to strengthen their respective crane business as equal partners. The three parties will move forward to further discuss the following items:

1 Formation of Global No.1 Group
The alliance among the three Parties aims at forming a world class business group in the crane market. The three Parties will develop and promote the global growth strategy to maximize the strength of R&D, production, purchasing and sales and distribution owned by them including their overseas subsidiaries.

2 Mutual Supply of Components
The three Parties will promote mutual supply of components, saving production and purchasing costs and strengthening their competitive position in the market.

1) Hitachi will supply CC components to Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co., wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo.

2) Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co., Sumitomo's wholly-owned subsidiary in the USA will supply MC components to Tadano.

3) Faun GmbH, Tadano's wholly-owned subsidiary in Germany will supply MC components to Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co..

3 Establishment of R&D Company of Cable Cranes
The three Parties will establish a joint venture company to be owned by them in order to develop highly competitive CC, by leveraging the technical expertise of each Party:

1) Scheduled Establishment: October 2001

2) Business Purposes: 1. Joint development of next generation models of CC for domestic and export market 2. Joint purchasing of parts and materials of CC

3) Corporate Name, Share Capital, Ownership Structure, Location of Head Quarter,Management: to be decided by further discussions.


The commonality of components for next generation models of CC to be jointly developed are to be manufactured by Hitachi. Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co. and Hitachi will independently customize and assemble CC to best meet the needs of their respective customers. The sales and customer support activities will continue by each of them as independently done now. By this alliance, the three Parties including their overseas subsidiaries aim at maximizing the respective competence of each Party in crane business and enhancing presence in all markets.

Company Profile

Name	Sumitomo	Hitachi	Tadano
Establishment	Nov.,1.1934	Oct.,1,1970	Aug.,24,1948
Head Office	9-11,Kitashinagawa 5-chome, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo	5-1,Koraku 2-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo	Ko34,Sinden-Cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa
Common Stock	30.9Byen	22.2Byen	13Byen
President	Yoshio Hinoh	Ryuichi Seguchi	Sakae Tadano
No. of Employee	5,110	3,951	1,251
Consolidated Sales	567Byen	320Byen	94Byen
Consolidated Sales of Crane Business	40Byen	7Byen	80Byen

Provisional

One Type of Cable Crane Crawler Crane Lattice Type		One Type of Wheel Crane All-Terrain Crane Hydraulic Type
Sumitomo Products	Hitachi Products	Tadano All Terrain Crane
#Cunted on crawler #Good for operation on rough and soft ground #Capable of attaining various functions by changing front rane portion is moattachment #Transported on truck trailers to working site #Good for long term service in certain site		#Crane portion is mounted on typed chassis #Capable of operating on rough terrain and running at high speed on paved roadway #High maneuverability and mobility in confined area