Saint-Gobain’s Construction Products sector has gained a foothold on the Japanese insulation market through its acquisition of the 43.64% stake held by Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) in MAG. The acquisition was made for an amount of 1,750 million yen (€11 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 (€125.4 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 www.saint-gobain.co.jp