ATLANTA, Georgia. March 17, 1998 -- Georgia-Pacific Resins Inc., the chemical division of Georgia-Pacific Corp., today finalized a joint venture agreement in South Africa, allowing Georgia-Pacific Resins to expand its markets worldwide and enhance its business relationships with existing customers who have both domestic and international operations.

The joint venture positions Georgia-Pacific to initially grow its chemical business within South Africa and eventually sell products to customers in other countries within the African continent.
Through the agreement signed in December, Georgia-Pacific has acquired a 50 percent shareholder interest in Resinkem (Pty) Limited, which is South Africa’s leading supplier of formaldehyde and urea formaldehyde adhesives used primarily by the manufactured board industry.

Georgia-Pacific Resins purchased its interest in Resinkem from AECI Limited, a major chemical manufacturer headquartered in Johannesburg. AECI, which was founded in 1924, is a leading supplier of chemical products to key sectors of the South African economy.

The transaction culminates several years of discussions involving Georgia-Pacific and AECI regarding Resinkem, which had been seeking a technology license from Geoergia-Pacific. The joint venture will help Resinkem improve the quality of the resin products it sells, and it will help its customers improve the quality of their finished products and increase the productivity of their mills.

Resinkem’s operations, located at Umbogintwini near Durban, has 70 employees and annual sales of about (US) $20 million. The facility’s primary customers are PG Bison and SAPPI Timber Industries, the largest panel products manufacturers in South Africa.

Throughout the negotiations, Georgia-Pacific officials maintained communications with the senior management of both PG Bison and SAPPI Timber Industries.

“We are excited about our new partnerships in South Africa,” said Jim Taylor, vice president of Georgia-Pacific’s chemical division. “This transaction helps us further our plans to market our technology in areas of the world with accelerating growth in the building products industry.”

Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific Corp. is the leading manufacturer and distributor of building products in the United States and one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of pulp, paper and building products. Georgia-Pacific Resins is a market leader in chemical products for the building products and pulp and paper industries as well as other industrial manufacturing processes.

Media Contact:
Ken Haldin (404) 652-6098