Local PPG officials heard
about a merge possibility on Friday, and now, less than a week later, it's a
reality.
PPG will merge its commodities
plants with the entire Georgia Gulf company, and southwest Louisiana is the
only place you can currently find both plants.
"It's a unique and exciting opportunity
for us to grow our business," said PPG Lake Charles plant manager Jon Manns.
Growth for both PPG and Georgia Gulf.
The companies are taking their current operations and putting them together to
become a more efficient fortune five hundred company in a $2.1 billion
transaction.
"We're a commodity business, and a commodity
business is most successful when it can run its maximum rates," said Manns. "What
this arrangement does is provide us a lot more options to allow us to run at
maximum rates."
The commodities portion of PPG currently
produces caustic, chlorine and vinyl chloride. Georgia Gulf produces PVC from
vinyl chloride, and building products from PVC. As of now, Georgia Gulf only
produces about fifty percent of the chlorine and vinyl chloride they need to
make their products. This merger will completely cut that expense out and give
Georgia Gulf an extra product in caustic, and it gives PPG the opportunity to
produce PVC and buildings products.
"What this new arrangement does is it
provides us a much stronger configuration for the future of operating here,"
said Manns.
The impact in southwest Louisiana will
be significant. And Georgia Gulf sites Lake Charles as a reason in the merger.
"One of the most compelling reasons
for this merger is that fact that we are able to combine the strength and the
assets that we have in Lake Charles," said Alan Chapple with Georgia Gulf.
Their current Lake Charles locations
will make the economy here stronger.
"Having the ability to work together in Lake Charles now,
really just gives us so much more strength and opportunities to grow and create
more value for all of our stakeholders, for shareholders, for our employees,
for the communities where we operate," said Chapple. "It really just is a great deal for
everybody."
Since the merger is very new, a lot of
details are still unknown, like whether or not there will be any employment
changes at the current plants in southwest Louisiana or even what the company
will be called.
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