Acquisition

Kingspan Group PLC
13 December 2000

                             Kingspan Group plc                              

                Acquires leading US Raised Access Floor Group                

Kingspan Group plc announces that it has agreed to acquire Tate Global
Corporation Inc. ('Tate') a US based manufacturer of raised access flooring
for a consideration of up to US$120 million (Euro 137.6 million).  The
consideration, which comprises a cash payment of $100 million plus debt to be
discharged at completion of up to US$20 million, will be funded from
Kingspan's internal cash resources and bank facilities.

Tate has two manufacturing facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania and a
smaller, recently acquired facility in the UK. Tate manufactures a number of
products in the raised access flooring area and is complementary to the
existing raised access flooring business operated by Kingspan through its
Hewetson subsidiary. Tate, which employs 900 people, is the market leader in
the US with approximately 60% of the raised access flooring market. 
Significant potential exists to convert the US market to the use of raised
access flooring from the existing 10% level.

Tate had sales of US$109 million in the 12 months to May 2000 which generated
EBIT of US$10.9 million, after depreciation and amortisation charges of US$2.9
million. Net assets being acquired as at May 30, 2000 were US$16.6million
(Euro 18.9 million) and goodwill on acquisition is estimated at US$80 million.

The acquisition is in line with the Company's stated strategy to acquire
businesses in high growth segments of the building products sector. A further
characteristic of the acquisition is the high market share in a market where
the full impact of ongoing conversion to raised access flooring has yet to
occur. Tate is complementary to the existing Kingspan raised access flooring
business in Europe. The acquisition also enables Kingspan diversify its
geographical base into the US market. 

The acquisition of Tate is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2001.

Commenting on the acquisition, Eugene Murtagh, Kingspan's chairman and chief
executive, said:

'The raised access floor business acquired is of a very high quality.  Tate
provides the ideal platform for further Kingspan product expansion in the U.S.
Tate with its high market share is very well positioned to satisfy the
increasing demand for raised access floors in high rise buildings across the
U.S'

Raised access floors have traditionally been installed in less than 10% of
high rise office developments in the US compared to 60% in Europe and Asia.
This is changing, with new office developments in the US being designed to
provide the occupants with the flexibility to use new and developing IT and
telecommunications technologies.  These technologies are developing at a very
rapid pace, necessitating the facility to access underfloor cable networks,
install additional capacity, and reconfigure entire office floor layouts.

There is a significant market for raised access floors in the construction of
server farms, or data centres, mainly by major US corporations. These
corporations have major roll-out programmes for data centre construction
across the US, Europe and Asia, all of which require raised access floors. The
enlarged raised access floor division of Kingspan Group will now incorporate
Tate in the US and Hewetson in Europe, making it possible for Kingspan to
service the multinational data centre providers on a global basis. Kingspan's
four raised access floor facilities in the U.S. and UK are currently gearing
up production capacity to cater for the anticipated increase in demand over
the medium and long-term

The combination of Tate & Hewetson gives Kingspan the two leading brands in
the global raised access flooring market.

For further information, contact:

Dermot Mulvihill                                           [phone]
Group Finance Director