AkzoNobel said on Monday it
has agreed to sell its Southeast Asian decorative paints
business to Nippon Paint for $1.35 billion, completing
a review of its Asian decorative paints portfolio.
The sale covers decorative paints operations in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and
Australia, the Dutch paints maker said, adding that it expects
net cash proceeds of about $1 billion after tax and payments to
minority partners.
The Dulux paintmaker earlier divested its decorative paints
operations in India and Pakistan for $1.6 billion and 50 million
euros, respectively.
“The successful completion of our Asia portfolio review is
part of an ongoing strategy to focus our portfolio on areas
where we can achieve differentiating scale and strengthen our
position,” AkzoNobel Chief Executive Greg Poux-Guillaume said in
a statement.
The Indonesia deal is expected to close separately in late
2026, while the remaining transactions are expected to close
around mid-2027.
AkzoNobel said it will now focus on the successful closing
of its merger with US coatings maker Axalta, which was
announced in November last year.
Nippon Paint submitted multiple proposals to acquire
AkzoNobel’s decorative paints business, the Dutch company said
in July, valuing it at about €7.5 billion ($8.44 billion).
That approach followed the withdrawal of a €12.5 billion bid
for the entire company that Nippon Paint had pursued jointly
with US-based paintmaker Sherwin-Williams in June.
The Financial Times, which earlier reported the Southeast
Asia deal, said Nippon remains interested in a larger deal for
the decorative paint business, but that integration of the
Southeast Asia business could occupy the company for some time
and AkzoNobel does not have plans to sell further assets from
the business.
($1 = 0.8887 euros)
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Nia
Williams and Subhranshu Sahu)
Published on October 5, 2026
