Fibre Takeover

Owens Corning has reached a basic agreement to acquire certain glass fibre industry assets from Japan's Asahi Glass Company. Under the agreement, Owens Corning would buy the continuous glass fibre operation of Asahi Glass' subsidiary, Asahi Fiber Glass, including its Ibaraki plant in Japan, by early in the second quarter of 2006. The Ibaraki plant was built in 1970 and introduced a direct melt process provided by Owens Corning. Continuous glass fibre products have been made there exclusively ever since. The two companies will not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. With this move, Owens Corning aims to boost its operations in Japan in particular and the Asia-Pacific region in general.