The year of 2009 will be marked by the association between Duratex and Satipel, which was announced in June and closed in August, and allowed the creation of the largest wood panel industry in the southern hemisphere. This new company, a leader within its operating areas managed, along with the association, to strengthen its competitive advantages based on, among other factors, the quality of their management, economies of scale, geographic diversification, product complementarities and a production model with a high degree of integration. A highlight of this association is related to the synergies between the companies, estimated at R$ 95.8 million annually (EBITDA base), of which R$ 13.0 million worth of the total were captured between August and December of 2009. Another highlight is related to the completion and start-up of three new wood panel plants, two of MDF and one of MDP, currently ramping up, aggregating approximately 1.8 million m³ of capacity to the existing 2.0 million.

Having the association process running as expected, the synergies being captured, and the major projects for expanding production capacity completed, the efforts are concentrated to achieve a greater degree of process integration. To this end, three other projects are in progress. The first, at a more advanced stage, with completion estimated for the second quarter 2010, is the construction of a unit for the manufacturing of resins, which are used in the panel production. This unit will meet the total requirement of this raw material to all MDF units located in Sao Paulo, helping to reduce the input cost. The second project includes investments to expand Deca capacity so as to attend the growing demand for finishing materials geared to the building segment. Finally, there is the completion of the implementation of an integrated IT system provided by SAP, which will contribute to greater data integrity.