US antitrust regulators said 26 Oct/07 they had cleared Owens Corning Inc (OC) $640M acquisition of Saint-Gobain's glass reinforcement & composite materials business, with conditions. The Federal Trade Commission said that OC has agreed to sell its continuous filament mat (CFM) assets to AGY Holding Company (S Carolina) as a condition of approval. CFM is a fiberglass reinforcement product used to strengthen marine parts, laminants & other products, the agency said. OC will sell plants in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania & Anderson, S Carolina, pursuant to the agreement with the FTC. The company had previously announced the sale of the Huntingdon plant. Jeffrey Schmidt, director of the FTC's competition bureau, said that without the divestiture OC would control over 90% of the CFM market & hinder competition. Under a separate agreement with European Union competition authorities, Owens Corning agreed to sell two plants in Belgium and Norway, the FTC said. Owens Corning said in announcing the deal in July 2007 that the purchase would give the company a greater presence in Russia, China and Mexico. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2007.
