Saint Gobain Or Regulatory News (COD)

8 Nov 2007 17:10

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain08 November 2007 SAINT-GOBAIN IS SETTING UP IN VIETNAM Paris, November 8, 2007 Saint-Gobain Gypsum (Construction Products Sector of Saint-Gobain) announces theacquisition of all the stockholder's equity of the Vietnamese company Vinh TuongJoint Venture, created at the beginning of 2007 and owned by Vinh TuongCorporation, Universal Cement (Taiwan) and Compact Resources (Singapore). The company, Vinh Tuong Joint Venture, has a manufacturing plant located near HoChi Minh City which can produce up to 9 million square meters of plasterboard. It currently employs 84 employees. Vietnam benefits from the high growth of the building market, and particularlyof the plasterboard market whose use has been recently introduced in thiscountry. This acquisition will enable Saint-Gobain Gypsum - which has been exporting toVietnam via its Thai company for more than 10 years - to consolidate its strongposition in the Vietnamese market and to enhance customer service. Moreover, itconstitutes the first industrial site of the Group in Vietnam, and for thisreason, represents a platform for development of other activities of the Group,in particular within the Construction Products Sector. This acquisition is in line with the strategy to develop the ConstructionProducts Sector in emerging countries. During the last twelve months, companieswithin the Sector have invested in Colombia (acquisition of FiberGlass ininsulation), in the United Arab Emirates (construction of a plasterboard plantin Abu Dhabi), in Argentina (acquisition of Iggam specializing in industrialmortars and plaster), in South Africa (Owens Corning South Africa in insulation- TAC and Tylon leading manufacturers of industrial mortars) and in Turkey(acquisition of Izocam in insulation and a mortar production plant in Ankara). With 45,000 employees worldwide and 250 consolidated companies, the ConstructionProducts Sector of Saint-Gobain is a leader in all its businesses: insulation(Isover), gypsum (Placo, Gyproc, Rigips), exterior products (CertainTeed),industrial mortars (Weber) and pipe (PAM). In 2006, it had consolidated sales of€10.9 billion, representing 24% of the Saint-Gobain Group's overall sales. Investor Relations Department Mrs Florence TRIOU-TEIXEIRA Tel.: +33 1 47 62 45 19Mr Alexandre ETUY Tel.: +33 1 47 62 37 15 Fax.: +33 1 47 62 50 62 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange