7 October 1998: Owens Corning and Glass Holdings Corp., the US unit of France“s Groupe Porcher Industries, said they have completed the creation of a joint venture to own and operate Owens Corning“s…
7 October 1998: Owens Corning and Glass Holdings Corp., the US unit of France“s Groupe Porcher Industries, said they have completed the creation of a joint venture to own and operate Owens Corning“s former glass fibre yarns and speciality materials business (see GlassOnline“s previous report of 28/8/98). The new enterprise, named Advanced Glassfibre Yarns LLC, serves the industrial, construction and electronics markets with glass fibre yarns and speciality materials. The business, which will operate independently of both Owens Corning and Groupe Porcher, has annual sales of about US$ 300 million and employs 1,500 people globally, the companies said in a joint statement. Glass Holdings owns 51% of the new enterprise and Owens Corning owns the other 49%. Owens Corning had reportedly agreed to sell its business to the joint venture in late July. “As a business of Owens Corning, we were an industry leader,” said Robert Fisher, president of Advanced Glassfibre Yarns. “As Advanced Glassfibre Yarns, we will build upon the industry leadership position that we established as a wholly-owned business of Owens Corning with a renewed focus on customer satisfaction and continued market leadership.” The new venture has three manufacturing facilities: Aiken, South Carolina; Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and South Hill, Virginia. Owens Corning, which builds materials and glass fibre composites systems and had 1997 sales of US$ 4.4 billion, will continue to represent Advanced Glassfibre Yarns in Asia Pacific and Europe until the joint venture establishes its own organisation in those regions.