Saint Gobain Or Regulatory News (COD)

26 May 2005 08:11

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain26 May 2005 Press release AGREEMENT REGARDING THE SALE OF SAINT-GOBAIN STRADAL Saint-Gobain has signed an agreement regarding the sale of its subsidiarySaint-Gobain Stradal to the CRH Group. Saint-Gobain Stradal designs, manufactures and sells concrete products forexterior fittings used in gardening and landscaping, road construction andutilities, and the rail and funeral industries. Stradal and its subsidiary SAE Beton, which it acquired in January 2005,reported sales of €180 million in 2004, and presently have more than 1,000employees based at 24 plants. Stradal, which joined the Saint-Gobain Group in 1996 at the time of theacquisition of Poliet (Point. P and Lapeyre), caters almost exclusively to theFrench market and therefore does not fit into the Group's strategy of expandingits international presence. Saint-Gobain accepted CRH's bid for Stradal, as it felt CRH had the investmentpotential and strategy to guarantee Stradal's continuing position as a majorplayer in its sector. CRH is an international building materials group formed in Ireland in 1970through the merger of Irish Cement and Roadstone (aggregates). CRH has over60,000 employees based in 24 countries and reported sales of close to €13billion in 2004. This transaction is to be submitted to the French competition authorities forapproval. May 26, 2005 Investor Relations Department Florence TRIOU-TEIXEIRA Tel.: +33 1 47 62 45 19Alexandre 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