Saint Gobain Or Regulatory News (COD)

6 Sep 2006 08:08

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain06 September 2006 press release September 6, 2006 Saint-Gobain's Construction Products Sector gives impetus to its expansion in Turkey Saint-Gobain's Construction Products Sector is consolidating its position inTurkey through the acquisition of Izocam, the leading Turkish name ininsulation. The purchase of a majority of the shares of Izocam, from Koc Group companies isbeing made jointly with Alghanim Industries, a leading industrial group inKuwait and in the Gulf countries, whose subsidiary Kimmco has been a glass andstone wool Isover licensee for 25 years. A 50/50 joint venture company will be established with the Alghanim Group. Thejoint venture will initially acquire 61.2% of Izocam's shares currently held byKoc, and then launch a tender offer on the Istanbul stock exchange for theremaining shares as required under Turkish law. Izocam has been a licensee of Isover for more than 40 years. As a market leaderin insulation in Turkey and the Middle East, Izocam reached sales ofapproximately 120 million euros in 2005 with a workforce of more than 450people. Izocam is the only manufacturer in Turkey operating in all insulation marketsegments. Izocam produces glass wool, stone wool, but also extruded polystyrene(XPS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) foams, elastomers and sandwich panels.Izocam has 4 plants, in Tarsus (glass wool), Gebze (stone wool, XPS and EPSfoams), Eskisehir (elastomer foams) and Umraniye (sandwich panels). Through this acquisition, Saint Gobain's Construction Products Sector takes aprominent position in Turkey's very dynamic and fast-growing constructionmarket. Already present in Turkey through Weber Markem (Industrial Mortars) andBPB (Gypsum), Saint-Gobain's Construction Products Sector plans to give impetusto its growth in Turkey and in neighbouring countries with this operation This operation is subject to the approval of the Turkish Competition Authority. With 45,000 employees spread out around the world and 250 consolidatedcompanies, Saint-Gobain's Construction Products Sector is a leader in all of itsactivities: insulation (ISOVER), gypsum (BPB), exterior products (CertainTeed),industrial mortars (Weber) and pipe (PAM). In 2005, annual sales (proforma BPB)totaled 10 billion euros representing 26% of Saint-Gobain's total sales. Investor Relations Department Mrs Florence TRIOU-TEIXEIRA Tel.: +33 1 47 62 45 19 Mr 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