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PPG Owns Coatings Ventures; To Build Plants In Argentina, Brazil

12 November 1997

PPG Owns Coatings Ventures; To Build Plants In Argentina, Brazil

    PITTSBURGH, Nov. 12 -- PPG Industries has
acquired Akzo Nobel Coatings International BV's remaining 20 percent interest
in a Brazilian automotive original equipment coatings company, and is
establishing production facilities in Argentina and Brazil.
    PPG held a 45 percent interest in the company when it was established in
1995 and increased its share to 80 percent in early 1997; 100 percent of a
related company in Argentina was acquired earlier this year.
    Richard Zahren, PPG's vice president of automotive coatings, said current
arrangements with Akzo Nobel for contract production in Argentina and leased
production facilities in Brazil will be phased out as production increases at
PPG's plants.
    He said an idle plant at Sumar, Brazil, about 60 miles (100 kilometers)
northwest of Sao Paulo, has been acquired, and manufacture of automotive
original equipment (OEM) coatings and related products is targeted to begin
there by year's end.
    According to Zahren, similar products will be made in a plant to be built
at Pilar, Argentina, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Buenos Aries,
scheduled to begin production by the third quarter of 1998.
    "These developments establish PPG, the world's leading producer of
automotive and industrial coatings, as a major supplier to automakers in the
Mercosur trading region," Zahren said. "The region's auto industry is
expanding at a fast pace, and we have been moving rapidly in response to its
needs. PPG's ability to meet consistently its supply and service commitments
to customers, wherever in the world they choose to operate, is one of our
greatest competitive strengths."
    The 200-acre (83-hectare) Sumar site includes production, laboratory,
warehouse and office facilities. Zahren said existing infrastructure will
allow rapid start-up of coatings production.  PPG employs about 140 people in
its Brazilian automotive OEM business.
    The Argentine plant will be built on a 34-acre (13.8-hectare) site in the
Pilar Industrial Park and initially employ about 35 people. The park, where
more than 100 companies have facilities, also provides in-place infrastructure
to expedite construction and start-up, according to Zahren.
    Pittsburgh-based PPG makes coatings and related products at more than 30
plants in North America, Europe and Asia.  The company, with annual sales
exceeding US$7 billion, is also a leading global producer of flat and
fabricated glass, fiber glass and chemicals.  PPG's South American operations
include part ownership of two production companies in Venezuela -- VFG-
Sudamtex, a fiber glass producer at Barcelona, and Inveca-Pittsburgh, a
glassmaker at Tejerias.

SOURCE  PPG Industries