Glass giant Owens Corning (Toledo, Ohio / USA; www.owenscorning.com) will sell its two glass fibre plants in Battice / Belgium and Birkeland / Norway. The disposal is one of the conditions for official approval of the planned joint venture for composite materials with Saint Gobain (La Defense / France; www.saintgobain.com) and its subsidiary Vetrotex (www.vetrotexeurope.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 03.08.2006.

Recent reports suggest that there is now a possibility that the jv plans may develop into a full acquisition of the relevant business activities by Owens Corning. Irrespective of this possible development, the requirements laid down by the authorities would remain the same and the sale of the two plants will go ahead.

In a parallel transaction, Owens Corning has announced the sale of its North American siding business, along with its Norandex / Reynolds distribution network, to Saint-Gobain for USD 371m. The exterior PVC building materials division employs around 2,200 people and has two production sites in the US and one in Canada. The transaction should be completed by the end of Q3 2007.