Re Joint Venture

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain
23 April 2007





                                                             February 21st, 2007


press
release



          Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain Create 'OCV Reinforcements',
          The New Leader in the Reinforcements and Composites Business



Toledo, Ohio, USA and Paris, France, Feb. 21, 2007



Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) and Saint-Gobain representatives jointly announced
today that they have signed a joint-venture agreement to merge Owens Corning's
Reinforcements Business and Saint-Gobain's Reinforcements and Composites
Business (a part of the entity known as Vetrotex) into a new company that will
be named 'OCV Reinforcements' and that will serve customers with improved
technology, an expanded product range and a strengthened presence in both
developed and emerging markets.


On July 27, 2006, Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain jointly announced that they
were in discussions to merge their respective reinforcements and composites
businesses, thereby creating a global company in reinforcements and composite
fabrics products, with worldwide revenues of approximately $1.8 billion (€1.5
billion) and 10,000 employees.



The agreement signed on February 20, 2007 contemplates that the joint-venture
will be owned 60 percent by Owens Corning and 40 percent by Saint-Gobain.  After
a minimum of four years, Saint-Gobain will have the option to sell its 40
percent stake to Owens Corning, and Owens Corning will have the option to buy
Saint-Gobain's stake in the joint-venture.



The Owens Corning Saint-Gobain joint-venture will present significant
opportunities for synergies. These are expected to come primarily from scale
benefits in purchasing and procurement; operational and technological plant
improvements; improved distribution costs; reduced administrative costs; and
asset management optimization.



The transaction, which has been approved by the Board of Directors of both
parent companies, is expected to close in mid-2007 and is subject to customary
closing conditions, and regulatory and antitrust approvals.



                                     * * *



About Owens Corning

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) is a world leader in building materials systems and
composite solutions. A Fortune 500 company for more than 50 years, Owens Corning
people redefine what is possible each day to deliver high-quality products and
services ranging from insulation, roofing, siding and manufactured stone veneer,
to glass composite materials used in transportation, electronics,
telecommunications and other high-performance applications. Since the company's
founding in 1938, Owens Corning has been a market-leading innovator of glass
fiber technology with sales of $6.3 billion in 2005 and 20,000 employees in 26
countries. Additional information is available at www.owenscorning.com.



About Saint-Gobain

Saint-Gobain Group specializes in the design, production and distribution of
functional materials for the construction, industrial and consumer markets. The
Group is organized into five business sectors: Flat Glass, High-Performance
Materials, Construction Products, Building Materials Distribution and Packaging.



Established in 54 countries, Saint-Gobain is the market leader in each of its
core businesses. In 2006, it achieved close to €41.6 billion estimated sales
with around 200,000 employees. Additional information is available at
www.saint-gobain.com.





                        Saint-Gobain Investor Relations

Mrs. Florence TRIOU-TEIXEIRA       Tel.: [phone]
Mr. Alexandre ETUY                 Tel.: [phone]
                                   Fax: [phone]




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange