Georgia Gulf finds a chemical business partner

Earlier this year, Atlanta-headquartered Georgia Gulf Corp. beat back a takeover effort by industry rival Westlake Chemical.

Thursday, the company announced it had a deal more to its liking.

PPG Industries will spin off its commodity chemicals business and merge it with Georgia Gulf in a new company.

Georgia Gulf shareholders will get 49.5 percent of the stock in the entity, while PPG’s will get 50.5 percent. PPG will get $900 million in cash and $1 billion in Georgia Gulf stock. The deal is expected to be done by late 2012 or early 2013.

Georgia Gulf president and CEO Paul Carrico, who will lead the new company, said it would be “a leading integrated chemicals and building products company …”

Georgia Gulf makes two chemical lines, chlorovinyls and aromatics, and vinyl-based building and home improvement products.

The company has 3,600 employees in the U.S. and Canada, although only 60 work at its Atlanta headquarters. The company was founded in 1985 through the acquisition of a majority of the chemical assets of Georgia-Pacific Corp. for $250 million.