Saint Gobain Or Regulatory News (COD)

17 Jul 2007 12:53

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain17 July 2007 Paris, July 17, 2007 Press release Advanced discussions on a project to sell the Reinforcement and Composites business to Owens Corning Saint-Gobain announces that discussions regarding the plan to merge itsReinforcements and Composites activities (part of the entity Vetrotex) with theReinforcements business of Owens Corning, are now focusing on a sale project ofSaint-Gobain's businesses to Owens Corning, rather than on the creation of ajointly-owned company which had been signed by the two groups on February 20,2007 (cf. Saint-Gobain Press release of February 21, 2007 and July 27, 2006). Saint-Gobain has retained its US reinforcement fiber activities based at WichitaFalls, Texas, which will be sold independently of the entities sold to OwensCorning. In response to the concerns voiced by the European Commission, Owens Corning hastoday made public its plans to divest its industrial entities in Belgium andNorway. A consultation process is underway with the relevant employee representativebodies. The closure of this transaction would be scheduled by the end of 2007, and wouldbe subject to the agreement of the competition authorities in Europe. As initially planned, Saint-Gobain's Textile Solutions business, serving mainlyconstruction markets, will remain part of the Group's High-Performance Materialssector. *** 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