UK Pilkington Glass, one of the world“s oldest and biggest glass makers, has set up a joint venture with Qazvin Glass Company, the country“s biggest glass manufacturer, to build a float glass plant ..
UK Pilkington Glass, one of the world“s oldest and biggest glass makers, has set up a joint venture with Qazvin Glass Company, the country“s biggest glass manufacturer, to build a float glass plant with a capacity of 180,000 tons a year. The deal, announced by Pilkington on 20 March, represents the first significant foreign joint venture since the 1979 revolution. The plant, using Pilkington“s own technology, will be built close to the local firm“s existing facility near Qazvin, nearly 200 kilometres west of Tehran. The new facility will replace two of Qazvin Glass“ four sheet glass furnaces, which use an older technology. The float plant is to start operating in about two years, a Pilkington official says. Pilkington will not specify its stake in Qazvin Glass, which is quoted on the Tehran Stock Exchange, but says it amounts to a “major equity interest”. Along with the “current majority shareholder”, Pilkington will jointly control the business, the firm says. Qazvin Glass was taken over by the state in 1979 and was later partly floated on the stock exchange. It now has a market capitalization of IR 392,000 million (US$ 49 million), and reported earnings of IR 96,000 million (US$ 12 million) on revenues of IR 215,000 million (US$ 27 million) last year. Pilkington says that no cash will change hands in the joint venture deal. Its stake will be represented by its funding of the float plant, which will cost more than Qazvin Glass“ capitalization to build. Pilkington chief executive Paolo Scaroni describes the venture as an example of the company “capitalizing on its technological leadership to enter a new market.” A company statement says that Pilkington has identified growth opportunities “in both downstream processing and automotive glass manufacture and will jointly pursue these with Qazvin Glass Company.” A company official says the new plant will generate more than US$ 40 million in annual turnover. In February, Pilkington announced the invention of the world“s first self-cleaning glass.