The French group Saint-Gobain has recently finalised an agreement with two Chinese partners, the Jiangsu Donghai Glass Factory and the Jiangsu Provincial Trust and Investment Company, along with Unite…
The French group Saint-Gobain has recently finalised an agreement with two Chinese partners, the Jiangsu Donghai Glass Factory and the Jiangsu Provincial Trust and Investment Company, along with United Development Incorporated (UDI), an Israeli partner from the Eisenberg Group. The contract calls for the formation of a jointly-owned subsidiary, to be known as Jiangsu Donghai Saint-Gobain Glass Co. Ltd. Saint-Gobain will control 69.5% of the company“s capital, with the Chinese partners splitting a 25% share and UDI holding the remaining 5.5%. The Jiangsu Donghai Glass Factory, located in Donghai in the Jiangsu province, 50 km from the Lianyungang harbour, currently manufactures drawn glass using the Pittsburgh process. Plans call for the construction of a plant with a float glass capacity of 500 tonnes per day, on the same site. Work will begin in October 1996. It has also been announced that Saint-Gobain is going to invest FFr 130 million at its Aniche, France site in order to start up production of a new type of glass. The new production line will have initial capacity of 45 tonnes of glass a day, but this could easily be doubled in the future. The revolutionary glass, called Venus, is tinted and heat-resistant so that it blocks out heat from the sun. The product will be especially suited to applications in the automotive industry. Aniche was chosen as the site for making the new product because electricity in France is relatively cheap. Furthermore Saint-Gobain already had substantial industrial plant at Aniche, which could be easily extended. There is also the possibility of potential synergies with Saint-Gobain Vitrages France in the area of purchasing raw materials.