Businesses for Sale, Sell a Business, Buy a Business

TOKYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Asahi Glass Co Ltd (5201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) will sell its glass fibre business to state-owned Development Bank of Japan and private equity fund Wise Partners for 16 billion yen ($140 million) to better compete with Corning Inc (GLW.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Japan's biggest glass maker will spin off wholly-owned unit Asahi Fiber Glass Co. Ltd.'s core businesses and sell all shares in the operations to a vehicle set up by the DBJ and Tokyo-based Wise Partners, Asahi Glass said on Wednesday.

Asahi Glass, the world's second-biggest maker of LCD glass substrates, has been selling off non-core operations in an attempt to catch up with Corning. The sale will boost Asahi Glass's group net earnings by 6 to 8 billion yen, it said.

Sales at Asahi Fiber, which makes glass wool insulators and roofing materials for use mainly in Japan, totalled 31.9 billion yen in calendar 2006, down 25 percent from the previous year.
Asahi Glass will keep Asahi Fiber's non-operating assets, including land and buildings, representing 8 percent of Asahi Fiber sales.

Prior to the announcement, shares of Asahi Glass closed up 0.1 percent at 1409 yen, while the benchmark Nikkei average (.N225: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 0.5 percent.