Asahi Techno Glass Corporation will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. through a stock swap, the boards of the two companies decided on 16 February 2005. A contract for the swap…
Asahi Techno Glass Corporation will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. through a stock swap, the boards of the two companies decided on 16 February 2005. A contract for the swap has been signed and the operation will be carried out on 1 July 2005 following approval of the contract by Asahi Techno Glass“s Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on 25 March 2005. Asahi Glass will be implementing the so-called “simple stock swap” procedures provided for in Article 358 of Japan“s Commercial Code: these require no approval by the general meeting of shareholders. Created in January 1999 from the merger of the Asahi Glass Group“s Iwaki Glass Co., Ltd. and Toshiba Glass Corporation, Asahi Techno Glass is a core company of the Asahi Glass Group in the field of specialty glass, providing various products and services in areas such as lighting, houseware, functional materials (electronic and industrial materials), physics, chemistry, bio-technology and optical coating. Asahi Techno Glass says it is also pursuing growth strategies laid out in “ACT 27”, the medium-term management plan launched in fiscal year 2005, centering on the specialty materials business utilizing specialty glass technologies. Asahi Glass says it has positioned the Electronics & Energy (“E&E”) materials operations as the core for its next-generation growth business, in the Group vision “Look Beyond”. With the medium-term management plan, “JIKKO-2007”, which was launched in fiscal 2005, Asahi Glass will actively concentrate its corporate resources on the E&E materials operations to further develop its business base. Moreover, Asahi Glass says it will expand the E&E materials operations with the existing electronic materials operations as a core, focusing on specialty materials produced based on glass, fluorine chemistry and their related technologies. The group says there are a number of the E&E materials businesses whose earnings power can be enhanced by leveraging the synergy from closer cooperation between Asahi Glass and Asahi Techno Glass. For faster and more flexible operations in this field, with more concentrated corporate resources, Asahi Glass Group says it will strengthen Asahi Techno Glass“s technological, development and marketing capabilities for specialty glass, by integrating the two companies and enhancing their cooperation. To this end, the Asahi Glass Group opted to make Asahi Techno Glass a wholly owned subsidiary through a stock swap. Asahi Glass expects the following synergies from the transformation of Asahi Techno Glass into a wholly owned subsidiary: enhancement of the value chain in the existing businesses of the E&E materials operations field; integration and strengthening of technology platforms for specialty materials; sharing of information about the development of technologies and new businesses, and clarification of the role of personnel in such development; and efficient and effective use of corporate shared services. By leveraging these synergies, Asahi Glass Group says its will further strengthen its competitiveness in the specialty materials operations, grow and expand the E&E materials operations, improve the quality of products and services, and raise the corporate value of the entire group.