This year the coatings industry is facing a number of major changes that will certainly impact next year’s Top Companies rankings.  All eyes are on two major acquisitions announced earlier this year.
AkzoNobel (number 2 in this year’s ranking) has made an agreed offer to acquire BASF’s Industrial Coatings (10) business for €475 million.

The transaction would include technologies, patents and trademarks, as well as securing supply to customers worldwide. Two manufacturing plants – one in the UK and one in South Africa – would also be transferred to AkzoNobel. The business generated revenue of about €300 million in 2015 and supplies products for a number of end-uses, including coil, furniture foil and panel coatings, wind energy and general industry and commercial transport.

The planned transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016, subject to regular consultation with employee representatives and satisfaction of certain closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approval.   

By far the most exciting announcement this year is the proposed acquisition of Valspar (8) by Sherwin-Williams (3) for approximately $11.3 billion.

Sherwin-Williams and Valspar have highly complementary paints and coatings offerings and this combination enhances Sherwin-Williams position as a premier global paints and coatings provider.  If all goes accroding to plan, the combined company would have approximately 58,000 employees and other stakeholders with  approximately $15.6 billion in annual sales revenue.

The proposed acquisition is not without its detractors, however. Various news outlets are reporting that a shareholder has sued Valspar Corp. in an attempt to thwart the sale to Sherwin-Williams. The plaintiff, Tom Mitsopoulos, is seeking class-action status and accused the company of not properly disclosing financial projections and of breaching their fiduciary duty, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the SEC documents, Valspar denied the allegations.

Last month, Valspar and Sherwin-Williams issued the following joint statement: “Given the complementary nature of the businesses and the benefits this transaction will provide to customers, Sherwin-Williams and Valspar continue to believe that no or minimal divestitures should be required to complete the transaction.”

In the coming months it will be intersting to see how it all plays out.



kpianoforte@rodmanmedia.com