PPG Industries Inc. announced Friday a deal to sell its remaining fiberglass operations to Nippon Electric Glass Ltd. 5214, -1.31% and expects proceeds of $545 million.
The paints, coatings and materials company said the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2017. The operations being sold include manufacturing facilities in Chester, South Carolina, and Lexington and Shelby, North Carolina, and administrative operations in Shelby, which employ more than 1,000 people with sales of $350 million last year.
PPG had sold its European fiberglass operations in 2016, and divested from two Asian fiberglass joint ventures. PPG is locked in a battle to buy rival Dutch paint maker Akzo Nobel NV which has rejected PPG’s $27 billion takeover bid.
PPG’s stock, which is still inactive in premarket trade, has rallied 13% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 7.9%.
By Tomi Kilgore
Source: MarketWatch
France has launched an offshore green hydrogen production platform at the country’s Port of Saint-Nazaire this week, along with its first offshore wind farm. The hydrogen plant, which its operators say is the world’s first facility of its type, coincides with the launch of another “first of its kind” facility in Sweden dedicated to storing hydrogen in an underground lined rock cavern (LRC).
The project sets up the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
At first glance, hydrogen seems to be the perfect solution to our energy needs. It doesn’t produce any carbon dioxide when used. It can store energy for long periods of time. It doesn’t leave behind hazardous waste materials, like nuclear does. And it doesn’t require large swathes of land to be flooded, like hydroelectricity. Seems too good to be true. So…what’s the catch?
