• Klöckner & Co markets sustainable metal and service solutions under new Nexigen^® brand
• Portfolio includes low-carbon steel and metal products together with logistics and circularity solutions and consulting services
• With the launch of the new brand, Klöckner & Co delivered the first roughly 20 tons of significantly carbon-reduced (‘Pro’ category) green steel to Mercedes-Benz

Duisburg, Germany, September 13, 2022 – Klöckner & Co has launched the new Nexigen^® brand bringing together the entire portfolio of sustainable products and services. Under the Nexigen^® brand, the Company now provides transparent, carbon-reduced solutions in the three categories of materials, processing and logistics. In this way, Klöckner & Co assists customers with the reliable procurement of green steel and metal products, providing full transparency about their carbon footprint from resource extraction to production. Combined with a comprehensive range of logistics solutions, circularity solutions and Sustainability Advisory Services, Klöckner & Co supports its customers in building sustainable supply chains. To mark the brand launch, Klöckner & Co subsidiary Becker Stahl-Service handed over the first coil of green steel to longstanding customer Mercedes-Benz AG.

Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE: “With the launch of Nexigen^®, we are underscoring our ambition as a pioneer of a sustainable steel industry and are taking the next step. Our customers are increasingly asking for sustainable steel solutions. Nexigen^® means they can easily and reliably source green steel and metal products. With additional advisory services, we are also helping them to make their supply chains significantly more sustainable and make their progress in decarbonization transparent. This is unique in our industry. We are delighted to have been able to hand over the first green steel to our longstanding customer Mercedes-Benz and to support the company in achieving its sustainability goals.”

New brand for implementation of sustainability strategy

With Nexigen^®, Klöckner & Co is taking an important further step in implementing its corporate strategy, “Klöckner & Co 2025: Leveraging Strengths,” which places the central focus on sustainability as a growth driver. As of today, customers can find out more about the Nexigen^® brand on the Group companies’ websites. Klöckner & Co has developed a metric for categorizing green steel, which serves as a guide and creates transparency for determining the carbon footprint of customers’ end products. In addition to green products, Nexigen^® also includes Klöckner & Co’s sustainable logistics solutions, circularity solutions and Sustainable Advisory Services. Together with the market launch of Nexigen^®, Klöckner & Co is also investing in further training of the workforce, and has already trained 700 sales staff to advise on and sell sustainable products and services. With the new brand initially being rolled out in the European Union, customers in the USA, Switzerland and the UK will also be able to purchase initial quantities of green steel from Klöckner & Co and its country organizations before the end of this year.

First green steel coil delivered to Mercedes-Benz AG

The first quantity of green steel under the Nexigen^® brand has been secured by Mercedes-Benz AG. On a visit to administrative premises of Mercedes-Benz AG, representatives of Becker Stahl-Service symbolically handed over the first coil to the Mercedes-Benz AG procurement team. The coil weighing around 20 tons is significantly carbon-reduced steel that corresponds to the “Pro” category in Klöckner & Co’s proprietary metric for green steel. Emissions from resource extraction through to production totaled less than 500 kg of carbon per ton of steel – that’s over 80% less than the average of around 2.5 tons of carbon per ton of steel via the blast furnace route. The delivery went to the Mercedes-Benz Kuppenheim plant. Mercedes-Benz plans to increasingly shift from conventional steel to green steel in raw material procurement under the company’s “Ambition 2039”.

Jochen Forstner, Director Procurement & Supplier Quality Mercedes-Benz Cars, Body-In-White, Raw Material & Strategy: “In our transformation process towards CO₂-neutrality at Mercedes-Benz, our Ambition 2039, we include the entire value chain – also partners and suppliers. As part of this, the transformation of the steel industry is essential to the decarbonization of our products. This is why we are working together with our partners for the goal of a green steel supply chain. We are happy that Klöckner & Co, as a reliable supplier through Becker Stahl-Service, has now enabled us to source green steel and is supporting us on this path.”

About Klöckner & Co:

Klöckner & Co is one of the largest producer-independent distributors of steel and metal products and one of the leading steel service companies worldwide. Based on its distribution and service network of around 140 locations in 13 countries, Klöckner & Co supplies more than 100,000 customers. Currently, the Group has around 7,200 employees. Klöckner & Co had sales of some €7.4 billion in fiscal year 2021. With the expansion of its portfolio of carbon-reduced materials, services and logistics options under the new Nexigen® umbrella brand, the company is underscoring its ambition as a pioneer of a sustainable steel industry. At the same time, Klöckner & Co leads the way in the steel industry’s digital transformation and has set itself the target of digitalizing and largely automating its supply and service chain. In this way, the Company aims to develop into the leading digital one-stop-shop platform for steel, other materials, equipment and processing services in Europe and the Americas.

The shares of Klöckner & Co SE are admitted to trading on the regulated market segment (Regulierter Markt) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) with further post-admission obligations (Prime Standard). Klöckner & Co shares are listed in the SDAX^® index of Deutsche Börse.

ISIN: DE000KC01000; WKN: KC0100; Common Code: 025808576.

About Becker Stahl-Service GmbH:

Becker Stahl-Service GmbH, a subsidiary of Klöckner & Co, is one of the largest service centers in Europe in the flat steel sector, supplying customers with wide band, slit strip, rectangular plates, blanks and trapezoid blanks of the highest quality. The company takes an active part in shaping the path to a sustainable steel industry. With a broad product and service portfolio and the use of state-of-the-art digital and automation systems, Becker has secured itself a reputation as a reliable partner in the metals industry. The company employs some 500 people and generated sales of around €700 million in fiscal year 2021.

Contact Klöckner & Co SE:

Press

Christian Pokropp – Press Spokesperson

Head of Corporate Communications |

Head of Group HR

Phone: +49 203 307-2050

Email: [email protected]

Investors

Felix Schmitz

Head of Investor Relations |

Head of Strategic Sustainability

Phone: +49 203 307-2295

Email: [email protected]