PPG completes sale of its fiberglass business

NEW YORK – PPG Industries Inc. has completed the sale of its fiberglass operations to Nippon Electric Glass Co.

The maker of industrial products said Tuesday proceeds were about $541 million pretax. Last year the company, which was founded in 1883 as Pittsburgh Plate Glass, sold its European fiberglass business, stakes in two Asian fiberglass joint ventures and its North American flat glass business.

Its key focus is now on paints and industrial coatings.

Nippon Electric Glass, based in Japan, gained facilities in Chester, South Carolina, and Lexington and Shelby, North Carolina; and research-and-development and administrative operations in Shelby and Harmar, Pennsylvania. The acquired business employs more than 1,000 people and had sales of about $350 million in 2016. It supplies the transportation, energy, infrastructure and consumer markets.