2007 M&A Review

Last year was a good year for merger/acquisition activity in the paint industry with approximately two-dozen paint transactions in the U.S. alone. The size of these transactions ranged from million dollar small management buyouts to multi-billion dollar investments by industry leaders. Heading the list of acquirers was PPG, Sherwin-Williams and Akzo Nobel.

PPG's 2007 acquisition efforts included offers to purchase SigmaKalon and Barloworld, as well as the acquisition of Champion Coatings. The Champion purchase fit in with PPG's goal to increase market share in transportation coatings where PPG has great strength. Having worked on this deal our observation is that PPG, like most of the major firms, has developed substantial expertise in exercising its transition skills as proven by their ability to maintain and expand this business shortly after its acquisition.

In July, PPG offered to purchase SigmaKalon Group from Bain Capital for approximately $3 billion.� Sigma�Kalon, an international producer of architectural, industrial and marine coatings, is a leading coatings supplier in Europe, and fit in with PPG's geographic and market goals