McGarry: Comex’s business is very well
run, and has a number of practices that
we regard as best-in-class that we plan
to replicate in other areas of the world
where we have architectural coatings
businesses. Comex also has strong marketing practices and ideas that we hope
to utilize in our existing architectural
coatings businesses in the U.S., Canada,
Europe, Australia and Brazil.
In addition, Comex products are sold
through a network of approximately
3,800 stores that are independently owned
and operated by more than 700 concessionaires. We believe that the network of
stores can continue to grow further and
potentially reach upwards of 6,000 locations. We continue to be excited about the
prospects of growing the Comex business.
CW: What else is notable about the
Mexico/LatAm market involving Comex?
McGarry: Mexico is an expanding economy and we look forward to growing in
the region with Comex customers and employees. If you look at the coatings market
in Mexico, about half of the sales are architectural and half are non-architectural.
The country’s per capita consumption of
paint is about half that in the U.S. Right
now, the architectural side of the coatings
market has a lot of room for growth.
In addition, Mexico has an expand-
ing oil and gas market and as this mar-
ket opens up, we expect this to be a very
robust segment for PPG. We have a num-
ber of products in our protective and ma-
rine coatings business that will be poised
for growth in the petrochemicals segment.
We also expect the growing auto-
motive market in Mexico to represent
a number of opportunities for PPG. As
automotive companies continue to build
manufacturing facilities in Mexico, this
represents opportunities for our architec-
tural and industrial coatings products to
be incorporated into these facilities. And
in addition to increased demand for our
automotive coatings for new vehicles, the
increased amount of automobiles on the
road will lead to increased demand for
PPG’s refinish products that are used in
auto body repair shops.
Due to our widespread exposure
across the coatings segments, we see
Mexico as a very favorable market for
PPG. We are already the top supplier of
coatings for automotive manufacturers
and we are the number one supplier of in-
dustrial coatings in Mexico. With Comex,
we can be a better and more innovative
supplier to the market.
On a global basis, the coatings market
is in the midst of continued consolidation.
The top 10 suppliers in the coatings mar-
ket account for only about 50 percent
global market share. The market continues
to consolidate because our global custom-
ers demand solutions that can protect their
business. Customers are interested in inno-
vative solutions that help to reduce energy
use, enhance resistance to corrosion and
protect their high-value assets. Successful
coatings companies need to rely heavily
on developing innovative technologies to
meet this demand. PPG is driving growth
in the segment through innovation and
products. We look forward to bringing
new innovations to the market. CW
Top: Staff at PPG-Comex store in Mexico.
Right: Marcos Achar Levy, chief executive officer of
PPG-Comex, and vice president of PPG architec-
tural coatings, Mexico.
Michael McGarry, president and COO, PPG.
