Toray sells its stake in Vilene Japan!
The global non-woven fabric industry has once again experienced a significant equity change. Toray announced that it will sell approximately 17 billion yen (approximately 110 million US dollars) to GermanyKodebao GroupFreudenberg SE sells its 25% stake in Japan Vilene Company (JVC). This means that the joint venture structure of nearly ten years of tripartite cooperation will officially come to an end, and Keppel will also become the sole owner of the JVC.
As early as June this year, Kodebao had notified Toray that it would exercise the "stock option" in the joint venture agreement. After multiple rounds of negotiations, Toray expects to officially sign the equity sale agreement on December 15, 2025, and plans to complete the transaction delivery in February 2026. Currently, Kodebao is advancing its internal approval process.
Despite withdrawing from the equity relationship, Toray emphasizes that it will continue to provide materials and products that meet Japan Vilene's needs, covering key areas such as healthcare, energy, air conditioning filtration, and automotive. The supply cooperation relationship between the two parties will not be interrupted due to a change in ownership.
Key role in global non-woven fabric layout
Japan Vilene, founded in 1960, is one of the most representative non-woven fabric companies in Asia, with a strong position in various fields such as automotive interiors, medical materials, electrical insulation, and industrial filtration. The company operates 15 production bases worldwide, including two factories in Japan, and maintains close collaboration with multiple business segments of Kodebo in Asia.
Especially in the automotive industry, JVC is a leading supplier of interior non-woven materials in Japan; JVC has also established profound technological advantages in medical protection and filtration materials.
In 2016, Toray signed a new joint venture agreement with Keppel, and in April of the same year, Keppel acquired control of JVC. Since then, Japan Vilene has operated as an important business group for Kodebao in the field of "technical textiles and filtration", highly integrated with Kodebao's Performance Materials and Filtration Technologies.
Further deepening of Kodebao's strategy
For Keppel, this transaction will further strengthen its non-woven fabric and filter material layout in Asia, which has strategic significance for supply chain integration in the automotive, medical, and industrial sectors. As the demand for sustainable materials, filtration technology, and high-performance textiles continues to expand, Kodebao hopes to build a more efficient decision-making chain and a more flexible global operational system through this.
For Toray, this sale is also one of its long-term strategies to focus on core business and optimize asset structure. But Toray will still participate in the upstream and downstream ecosystem of JVC as a material supplier, continuing to leverage its advantages in the field of high value-added functional materials.
With the completion of the transaction, the pattern of Japan's non-woven fabric industry will usher in a new stage, and Kodebao's influence in the Asian market will also be further enhanced.
