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PPG To Acquire Bollig & Kemper, German Auto Coatings Maker

15 January 1998

PPG To Acquire Bollig & Kemper, German Auto Coatings Maker

    PITTSBURGH, Jan. 15 -- PPG Industries of
Pittsburgh will acquire the automotive coatings business of Helios-Lacke
Bollig & Kemper GmbH & Co. KG (B&K) of Cologne, Germany. The transaction does
not include B&K's industrial coatings and resins business.
    Richard Zahren, PPG automotive coatings vice president, said he expects
the acquisition to be completed by the end of January.  Terms were not
disclosed.
    "B&K has built an excellent reputation in four decades of supplying
original equipment automotive coatings," Zahren said.  "This acquisition will
especially strengthen PPG's ability to serve German-based automobile
manufacturers throughout the world, and represents another major step in our
strategy to profitably expand our global automotive coatings business.
    "Combining our technologies provides PPG with an even stronger product
line to meet the total coatings requirements of our customers," he added.
"B&K's product portfolio is an excellent fit with PPG's, and complements our
capabilities in waterborne automotive products."
    B&K's Wilhelm Kemper will join PPG as managing director of its German
coatings subsidiary, PPG Industries Lacke GmbH, as well as European automotive
coatings marketing and sales director.
    "His reputation in the automotive industry is outstanding, and he brings a
wealth of experience to PPG," Zahren said. "The quality of the B&K technical,
support and production team joining PPG is an important element of this
acquisition."
    Bollig & Kemper's auto coatings business employs about 190 people; its
annual sales exceed US$50 million.
    PPG's acquisition includes B&K's plant at Saarwellingen, southwest of
Frankfurt, and its minority interest in PPG-B&K Revestimentos Para Automoveis,
A.E.I.E., an automotive coatings marketing business in Palmela, Portugal.
    PPG, with annual sales exceeding US$7 billion, is the world's leading
producer of automotive and industrial coatings and a major global maker of
glass, fiber glass and chemicals.
    This will be PPG's eighth automotive or industrial coatings acquisition in
the Americas and Europe in five months, with combined annual sales approaching
US$500 million.

SOURCE  PPG Industries