Saint-Gobain's Construction Products Sector Moves Into Japan

The acquisition was made for an amount of 1,750 million yen (EUR11 million). Following the acquisition, MAG will be jointly owned by Japanese group Taiheiyo Cement and Saint-Gobain, each with a stake of 43.64%, and will be operationally managed by Saint-Gobain.



MAG is the first glass wool manufacturer in Japan, with consolidated

sales of 20,219 million yen (EUR125.4 million) in 2007 and about 440

employees. It operates four plants located in Ibaraki (Akeno and Tsuchiura), Gifu (Tarui) and Hokkaido (Sunagawa). The company has been an Isover licensee for many years, and has been using the Saint-Gobain TEL process since 1974.



Japan is one of the world's leading construction products markets: the

building industry employs 9% of the country's active population, and 1.2

million new dwellings are built each year. New building standards with

greater emphasis on insulation should become effective this year. They aim

to address the growing concern of government and consumers for

environmental protection (reduction of CO2), energy efficiency and comfort.



With this acquisition, the Construction Products sector is ideally

placed to build a strong position on the Japanese market and become a key

player in the Japanese construction industry.



Saint-Gobain in Japan



Saint-Gobain K.K. was established in 1986 as Saint-Gobain Group's

wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary. Saint-Gobain K.K. has about 260

employees, and over 430 people in total work for Japan-based companies in

which Saint-Gobain Group has a shareholding of 50% or more. Saint-Gobain

acquired Norton Group in 1990, which had been present in Japan since 1917.

Along with Saint-Gobain K.K., three joint-venture companies manufacture

and/or distribute Saint-Gobain products in Japan, which include ceramics,

crystals, plastics, refractories, abrasives and flat glass for automotive,

building or solar applications.



The first joint ventures formed by Saint-Gobain with Japanese business

partners go back as far as 1974, while the most recent initiatives involve

Nippon Electric Glass and Central Glass in 2003.



Saint-Gobain K.K.'s head office is 3-7 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.



For more information, see http://www.saint-gobain.co.jp



Investor Relations Department: Press Relations:



Florence Triou-Teixeira Sophie Chevallon

Tel: +33-1-47-62-45-19 Tel: +33-1-47-62-30-48



Alexandre Etuy

Tel: +33-1-47-62-37-15



Vivien Dardel

Tel: +33-1-47-32-44-29

Fax: +33-1-47-62-50-62