PPG Industries to Acquire Australian Coatings Business

27 August 1998

    PITTSBURGH, Aug. 26 -- PPG Industries expects to
complete the acquisition within a month, for about US$150 million, of the
technical coating business of Orica Ltd., Melbourne, Australia, following
government review.
    The business PPG is acquiring includes Orica's automotive refinish,
automotive original equipment, coil, packaging and production coatings,
generating annual sales of about US$100 million.
    Orica, the largest producer of automotive and industrial coatings in
Australia and New Zealand, retains its architectural and powder coatings
businesses.
    PPG's acquisition will include manufacturing, office, laboratory and
warehouse facilities at Clayton, near Melbourne.  About 600 Orica employees
will join PPG.
    "This transaction accelerates our efforts to build a strong automotive and
industrial coatings position in the region," said Douglas C. Hepper, PPG
general manager of automotive refinishes.
    "Orica's management had come to recognize that the long-term success of
these businesses would be best served by joining them with a global coatings
company positioned to meet technology and supply requirements of globalized
customers," Hepper added.  "They, and we, concluded that PPG is best
positioned to address those requirements."
    He said that combining the Orica units with PPG's automotive and
industrial coatings businesses "will assure customers a complete range of
products, backed by strong technical and marketing support.  The acquisitions
will be the foundation on which we will build a substantial coatings business
presence throughout the southern Pacific region."
    Pittsburgh-based PPG is the world's leading producer of automotive and
industrial coatings and a major North American maker of architectural
coatings.  The company is also a leading maker of fiber glass, flat and
fabricated glass, and industrial and specialty chemicals.  In 1997 the
coatings segment contributed more than 40 percent of PPG's US$7.4 billion
global sales.