Nippon Paint buys AkzoNobel's Southeast Asia paints arm for $1.35B
What's the deal? Nippon PaintDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → will acquire AkzoNobelDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s Southeast Asian decorative paints business for $1.35 billion, taking over operations across seven markets. The Dutch coatings maker announced the sale on Monday after completing a review of its Asian decorative-paints portfolio.
The deal covers operations in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. AkzoNobel expects net cash proceeds of about $1 billion after tax and payments to minority partners.
Why now? The sale caps AkzoNobel's broader retreat from selected decorative-paints assets. The Dulux maker earlier divested its India and Pakistan operations for $1.6 billion and €50 million, 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,” chief executive Greg Poux-Guillaume said.
What's the endgame? For Nippon Paint, the deal adds a large regional group of decorative-paints businesses spanning residential and construction markets. Decorative paints track housing completion, refurbishment, and commercial development, making control over manufacturing, distribution, and brands significant to the building-materials industry.
The agreement follows repeated approaches by Nippon Paint. In July, it submitted multiple proposals valuing the business at about €7.5 billion, or $8.44 billion. That came after the June withdrawal of a €12.5 billion bid for the entire company that Nippon Paint had pursued jointly with US paintmaker Sherwin-WilliamsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What could go wrong? The transaction will not close as one deal. AkzoNobel expects the Indonesia portion to complete separately in late 2026, with the remaining transactions closing around mid-2027. The company did not disclose valuations for individual country operations, nor the acquired businesses' revenue, capacity, or workforce.
The signal: The deal reflects a wider restructuring across the global coatings industry. AkzoNobel says it will not sell further decorative-paints assets, shifting its focus to completing its merger with US coatings maker AxaltaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, announced last November.
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