PPG Industries has received the necessary approvals from Indian authorities to expand its coatings joint venture and also to create a second joint venture with Asian Paints Ltd., India's largest coatings company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

PPG and Asian Paints will expand their current 50-50 joint venture, Mumbai-based Asian PPG Industries, to now serve India's industrial liquid, marine, consumer packaging and transportation coatings customers. PPG and Asian Paints also will form a second 50-50 joint venture, Asian Paints PPG Limited, to serve protective, industrial powder, industrial container and light industrial coatings customers.

"The expansion of PPG's more than 15-year successful relationship with Asian Paints will position both companies for accelerated growth in nondecorative coatings to take advantage of the long-term growth of the Indian economy," said Mike Horton, president, PPG Asia Pacific, and vice president, automotive refinish and architectural coatings, Asia Pacific.

Both joint ventures leverage PPG's global scale, technology and customer relationships with Asian Paints's Indian customer base, manufacturing footprint, distribution channels and local relationships, according to Horton.

PPG will have effective management control of Asian PPG Industries, and Asian Paints will have effective management control of Asian Paints PPG Limited to best utilize the companies' respective strengths for capturing the growth in Indian markets, including infrastructure development, Horton said.

From Coatings World