Inauguration of the Ain el Sokhna float in Egypt
On November 3, 2010, Pierre-André de Chalendar, Chairman and CEO of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, officially opens the largest flat glass production plant in Egypt.
Saint-Gobain Glass Ain el Sokhna plant – Egypt
Located along the banks of the Red Sea, at Ain el Sokhna, 120 kilometres East of Cairo and 40 kilometres South of Suez, this line started production in July 2010 after 28 months of construction work.
With capital expenditure amounting to €130 million, this is the highest sum ever invested by Saint-Gobain in this region of the world. An investment conducted under the auspices of Saint-Gobain Glass Egypt, a joint-venture between Saint-Gobain Glass, majority shareholder (51 %), and three other partners: the Egyptian holding MMID (Mansour-Maghraby Investment and Development) associated with M. Ali Moussa (34 %), and Şişecam (15%).
Spanning a surface area of 75 hectares, with a capacity of 900 tons / day, the Ain el Sokhna float line is the largest in the Middle-East. With this plant and its leading-edge technology, Saint-Gobain has set its sights on becoming leader on the Egyptian market. This facility will essentially meet the domestic demand for flat glass which is growing in this country at a rate of 10% a year both in the building and automotive sector. The other half of its production will be exported, mainly towards the Middle-East (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan) and Africa.
With this float, a first for Saint-Gobain in the region, the Group has reached a new milestone in its growth strategy in emerging countries. The Flat Glass activity aims to achieve 46% of its sales in emerging countries by 2015, compared to 40 % in 2010, and intends to earmark to them 75% of its capital expenditure over the next five years.
