Owens-Illinois Inc. (O-I) has entered into an agreement to acquire the glass container manufacturing business of Hebei Rixin Glass Group Co. Ltd. in northern China. The deal is expected to close before the end of 2010. After the acquisition is completed, O-I will have expanded its capacity in China to more than 1 million metric tons (up from 440,000 metric tons) in 2010, reportedly making the company China’s second-largest glass container manufacturer.

The acquisition, located in the Beijing/Tianjin region of China’s Hebei province, includes two plants and delivers an additional 270,000 metric tons of capacity. The Hebei province is the third-largest glass market in China, representing approximately 10% of the total Chinese market. The newly acquired plants produce glass containers predominantly for China’s rapidly growing domestic beer market. By 2015, China’s domestic beer market is expected to reach 573 million hectoliters-more than twice the size of the U.S. beer market.

“This acquisition supports our strategy of expanding in emerging markets with strong growth and long-term earnings potential,” said Al Stroucken, chairman and CEO. “Our operations in China now include eight glass manufacturing plants, as well as a plant in Tianjin that produces molds for glass manufacturing. The newly acquired plants have lower cost profiles than our existing operations in China, thereby enabling us to expand our reach beyond the premium markets and into the rapidly growing mass beer market.”

For additional details, visit www.o-i.com.