PITTSBURGH — PPG announced Monday that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Wörwag, a global manufacturer of coatings for industrial and automotive applications. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
“Wörwag’s industry expertise in powder and liquid coatings for industrial and automotive applications is highly complementary to PPG’s business, and will help to further expand our product offering,” said Rebecca Liebert, PPG executive vice president. “The addition of Wörwag will also enhance PPG’s waterborne, direct-to-metal, liquid and powder coatings offerings, and allow us to further expand current customer distribution in key geographies.”
Wörwag is a family-owned company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, founded in 1918. The company employs about 1,100 people globally and its full year 2020 revenue is expected to be approximately 220 million euros. The company specializes in developing sustainable liquid, powder and film coatings. Wörwag operates locations in Germany, the U.S., China, South Africa, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and Poland.
CIO Succession
Also on Monday, PPG announced the appointment of Bhaskar Ramachandran as vice president and chief information officer. Ramachandran will succeed Chris Caruso, current vice president, IT, who has announced his intent to retire, effective March 1, 2021.
Ramachandran joins PPG from Jabil Inc., an American worldwide manufacturing services company. As vice president, IT, and CIO of the company’s largest division, he led the creation of a transformative strategy to introduce a fully cloud-based connected eco-system to make production more efficient and cost-effective.
With headquarters in Pittsburgh, PPG operates in more than 70 countries and reported net sales of $15.1 billion in 2019.
