Exatec Confirms GE Plastics' Acquisition of Bayer Materialscience's Share of Exatec Joint Venture
WIXOM, MICHIGAN - August 27, 2007 - Exatec, LLC announces that GE Plastics has agreed to acquire Bayer MaterialScience's share of the Exatec joint venture, which provides advanced glazing systems to the automotive industry.
Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, GE Plastics will acquire Bayer's 50-percent share of the joint venture, thereby increasing its equity interest in Exatec to 100 percent. Transaction details were not disclosed.
"GE and Bayer were the first to enable the use of polycarbonate glazing technology in vehicles. Exatec has advanced the development of glazing with its patented coating system through aggressive testing against rigorous performance criteria. With the demand for lightweight, environmentally responsible vehicles projected to grow globally over the next few years, the time is right to restructure the joint venture and take it to the next level of commercial development," said John Madej, President and CEO, Exatec, LLC.
Exatec was founded in 1998 as a joint venture between Bayer MaterialScience of Leverkusen, Germany, and GE Plastics, part of General Electric Company, Pittsfield, Mass., USA. Exatec is a global company with a technical development center in Wixom, near Detroit, MI and a European subsidiary based in Bergisch Gladbach near Cologne, Germany. The company has successfully developed new technologies and met numerous milestones related to regulation and testing over the past eight years. The company plans to fully commercialize and industrialize its technologies for a broad range of automotive OEMs and tiers.
Madej added, "This is a great transition for Exatec. We started out with the support and development expertise of the two premier polycarbonate manufacturers, and now we are excited to move forward with the industrialization of our business as a wholly-owned entity. This is the right move at the right time and is a win-win for our current and future customers and our supplier partners."
Exatec's automotive glazing system covers all processes and manufacturing steps, including molding with added functionality, 3D printing, decoration technologies, and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) hardcoats.
The wholly owned Exatec will continue to serve its customers across the globe in developing advanced glazing technology applications.
Bayer MaterialScience will proactively develop and expand its automotive glazing business independent of the JV.
About Exatec, LLC.
Exatec (www.exatec.biz) was founded in 1998 as 50:50 Joint Venture of Bayer MaterialScience and GE Plastics with the mandate to develop polycarbonate glazing systems for the automotive market. Headquartered at its state-of-the-art Technology
Development Center in Wixom, Michigan, Exatec has developed patented
polycarbonate coating systems, which ensure market leading weatherability and
glass like abrasion performance. Exatec operates an engineering design and
development office in Bergisch Gladbach, outside Cologne, Germany, to support the
European automotive market. Exatec's most recent glazing system, Exatec® 900,
was launched in 2004 and is currently being evaluated on vehicles by OEM's across
the world.
About GE Plastics
GE Plastics (geplastics.com) is a global supplier of plastic resins widely used in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building & construction, telecommunications, and optical media applications. The company manufactures and compounds polycarbonate, ABS, SAN, ASA, PPE, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as well as the LNP* line of high-performance specialty compounds. GE Plastics, Specialty Film & Sheet manufactures high-performance LEXAN* sheet and film products used in thousands of demanding applications worldwide. In addition, GE Plastics' dedicated Automotive organization is an experienced, world-wide competitor, offering leading plastics solutions for five key automotive segments: body panels and glazing; under the hood applications; component; structures and interiors; and lighting. As a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games, GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to a successful Games.
About Bayer MaterialScience:
With 2006 sales of EUR 10.2 billion (continuing operations), Bayer MaterialScience is among the world's largest polymer companies and is a leading supplier of polycarbonate. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and sports and leisure industries. Bayer MaterialScience is a leading company in supplying its polycarbonate Makrolon** into current automotive glazing applications.
BMS has 30 production sites around the globe and employed approximately 14,900 people at the end of 2006. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.
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* LNP and LEXAN are trademarks of General Electric Company.
® EXATEC 900 is a trademark of Exatec, LLC.
**Makrolon is a trademark of Bayer MaterialScience AG.
Media Contacts:
EXATEC, LLC :
Bärbel Prokop
Phone: +49 (2204) 842700
E-Mail: bprokop@exatec.biz
GE Plastics :
Anne Clement
Phone: +31 164 29 3148
E-Mail: anne.clement@ge.com
BayerMaterialScience:
Andrea Huber
Phone: +49 214 30 72536
E-Mail: andrea.huber@bayerbms.com
