Paint wars: Axalta pays $420M for Valspar unit, so Sherwin-Williams can buy rest; Akzo, PPG circle
DuPont spinoff Axalta is growing amid mergers.
Philadelphia-based Axalta Coating Systems, the paints-and-powders company spun off by DuPont Co., says it has agreed to pay $420 million in cash to paintmakers Valspar Corp. and Sherwin-Williams Co. to acquire Valspar's North American Industrial Wood Coatings unit.
The business is being spun off so Sherwin-Williams, the Cleveland company that owns Philadelphia's former M.A. Bruder paints, can get approval from U.S. and Canadian regulators,to buy Valspar, based in Minneapolis.
The global industrial-coatings business is consolidating, with PPG Industries of Pittsburgh considering a deal with Netherlands-based AkzoNobel NV. Axalta has been a potential AkzoNobel acquisition target "for years," Bloomberg reported here. See also this 2014 story about a purported $7 billion AkzoNobel offer for Axalta.