Boral Ltd, an Australian building materials manufacturer, and its US peer USG Corp announced last Thursday that they had agreed to a joint venture. The move was to bring the manufacturing and distribution network of Boral together with the technologies of USG.

The joint venture would be owned 50% by Boral Ltd and 50% by USG Corp, said the companies in a statement. The joint venture would be manufacturing plasterboard and ceilings, said a report from Reuters.

USG Corp would pay up to USD575 million to Boral Ltd. The joint venture was valued USD1.6 billion that would operate in 12 countries, said the companies in a statement. The joint venture would be completed by January 2014. According to Boral, the net profit of the company resulting from the venture after tax for the 2014 fiscal year would be down by about AUD15 million.

On Wednesday, the shares of Boral had closed at USD4.75, an increase by almost 9% this year to underperform the 13% in the broader market. Meanwhile, the shares of USG closed down at 1.3% at USD27 on Wednesday.