1986 to the present day
Back to the future, or 20 years evolving non-stop
The 1986 privatisation initiated a careful reshuffle. The business portfolio it shaped as a result largely foreshadowed the Group’s profile today. It rolled out its transformation in two main stages (one each decade).
The redirection towards high-tech materials
Saint-Gobain spent the bulk of the first decade striving to restore sustainable and profitable growth, and to establish worldwide leadership, across its business lines. Then it redirected its strategy towards high-tech materials. Over this period, it sold operations accounting for 53% of the revenue it had derived since the 1970 merger. Disposals included its Corporate business line (1988) and its Wood and Paper business line (1994), which were then out of the picture. New operations came in: Norton (1990) and Carborundum (1996) contributed abrasives, purpose-engineered ceramics and plastics, and Bicron (1990) brought crystals and sensors. All those business lines went into what became the High-Performance Materials sector.
Building Distribution and Plasterboard
The following ten years saw the metamorphosis pick up speed. The Poliet Group acquisition in 1996 was the first milestone, and was part of Saint-Gobain’s move into downstream building distribution. At the end of that decade, in late 2005, it took over British Plaster Board (BPB), the world’s leader in its field, to round off the range of construction materials made by Saint-Gobain (insulation and exterior home improvement solutions), Poliet (mortars) and Pont-à-Mousson (pipes and other supplies for the water market).
