5 November 1998: According to a recent press report, Owens-Corning, the Ohio-based manufacturer of glass-fibre composites and building materials, is in “active discussions” on acquisitions that could …
5 November 1998: According to a recent press report, Owens-Corning, the Ohio-based manufacturer of glass-fibre composites and building materials, is in “active discussions” on acquisitions that could bolster the group“s building materials business in eastern Europe. Carl Hedlund, president of the company“s international building materials division, said that the company had earmarked three countries – the Czech Republic, Poland and eastern Germany. “We“re talking to people there,” he said, but declined to give further details. Europe currently accounts for about three-quarters of the building materials division“s non-US sales, but the business is weighted towards the UK and western Europe. Owens-Corning has been implementing a wide-ranging restructuring aimed at improving its financial performance and cutting its debt burden. However, Hedlund said that as far as the international building materials operations were concerned, this process was largely complete, with both staffing and costs reduced by about 20% as a result. One asset disposal remained to be finalized by the end of the year. He said that the group had largely pulled back from south-east Asia, where it had begun to set up offices and sales forces, but was still focused on growing businesses in India and China. Asia currently accounts for about 11-12% of the building materials division“s sales outside the US. Hedlund conceded that currency movements had virtually halved the export business from North America into northern Asia, but said that manufacturing operations in China itself were faring relatively well, with business up by about 35%. He added that the company had looked at investment opportunities created by the recent economic problems in the region, but admitted that the situation remained difficult. “Everyone“s trying to time the bottom,” he said.