Company Sets Sights To Be Sealing And Coatings Leader

PPG Industries Inc. announced June 2 that it will acquire PRC-DeSoto International Inc., a supplier of aerospace sealings and coatings, from Akzo Nobel NV for $512.5 million. Coatings has been PPG's largest business segment since 1992, and, with the acquisition of PRC-DeSoto -- which has annual sales of about $240 million -- PPG hopes to emerge as an industry leader. "It will make PPG a leading supplier of coatings and sealants to the world's commercial, general, and military airframe producers and operators, and enhance our capabilities in glass sealants as well as coatings application systems," says Raymond W. LeBoeuf, PPG board chairman and chief executive. "PPG technologies will reinforce and expand PRC-DeSoto's well-respected product line with water-borne and clear coatings, surface pretreatment products, and chemicals management." The transaction should be concluded by the end of July, pending regulatory approval.