TOLEDO, Ohio, and PARIS, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain representatives jointly announced today that they have signed a joint-venture agreement to merge Owens Corning's Reinforcements Business and Saint-Gobain's Reinforcements and Composites Business (a part of the entity known as Vetrotex) into a new company that will be named "OCV Reinforcements" and that will serve customers with improved technology, an expanded product range and a strengthened presence in both developed and emerging markets.
On July 27, 2006, Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain jointly announced that they were in discussions to merge their respective reinforcements and composites businesses, thereby creating a global company in reinforcements and composite fabrics products, with worldwide revenues of approximately $1.8 billion (euro 1.5 billion) and 10,000 employees.
The agreement signed on Feb. 20, 2007 contemplates that the joint venture will be owned 60 percent by Owens Corning and 40 percent by Saint-Gobain. After a minimum of four years, Saint-Gobain will have the option to sell its 40 percent stake to Owens Corning, and Owens Corning will have the option to buy Saint-Gobain's stake in the joint venture.
The Owens Corning Saint-Gobain joint venture will present significant opportunities for synergies. These are expected to come primarily from scale benefits in purchasing and procurement; operational and technological plant improvements; improved distribution costs; reduced administrative costs; and asset management optimization.
The transaction, which has been approved by the Board of Directors of both parent companies, is expected to close in mid-2007 and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory and antitrust approvals.
About Owens Corning
Owens Corning is a world leader in building materials systems and composite solutions. A Fortune 500 company for more than 50 years, Owens Corning people redefine what is possible each day to deliver high-quality products and services ranging from insulation, roofing, siding and manufactured stone veneer, to glass composite materials used in transportation, electronics, telecommunications and other high-performance applications. Since the company's founding in 1938, Owens Corning has been a market-leading innovator of glass-fiber technology with sales of $6.3 billion in 2005 and 20,000 employees in 26 countries. Additional information is available at http://www.owenscorning.com/.
About Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain Group specializes in the design, production and distribution of functional materials for the construction, industrial and consumer markets. The Group is organized into five business sectors: Flat Glass, High- Performance Materials, Construction Products, Building Materials Distribution and Packaging.
Established in 54 countries, Saint-Gobain is the market leader in each of its core businesses. In 2006, it achieved close to 41.6 billion estimated sales with around 200,000 employees. Additional information is available at http://www.saint-gobain.com/.
