Parth Jindal-led JSW Paints, a group company of diversified conglomerate JSW Group, and AkzoNobel N.V. are likely to shortly sign final or definitive documents over the next few days for the proposed acquisition of the majority stake held by the Dutch multinational parent in AkzoNobel India, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.
At the end of day's trade on June 25, the majority stake of 74.76 percent held by Dulux paints maker AkzoNobel N.V. in AkzoNobel India was valued at Rs 10,985 crore. Earlier reports have pegged the deal value at around Rs 9,000 crore.
On May 15, Moneycontrol was the first to report that JSW Paints had emerged as the front-runner in a hotly- contested transaction, which also saw interest from a consortium of Advent International and Indigo Paints and Fevicol-maker Pidilite Industries. Post May 15, an exclusivity agreement followed between the Indian business house and the MNC.
"Both parties are planning to seal the deal very soon, maybe as early as this week or early next week," one of the persons quoted above told Moneycontrol. A second person confirmed the same.
A third person said an official announcement can be expected once the Indian conglomerate and the Dulux paints maker reach final agreements.
All the three persons quoted above spoke on the condition of anonymity to Moneycontrol.
Email queries sent to company officials of JSW Group, AkzoNobel NV and AkzoNobel India remained unanswered at the time of publishing this story. This story will be updated if and when the firms respond. Investment bank Citi is the sell-side advisor on the deal, the May 15 report by Moneycontrol had added.
Analysts believe the proposed buyout will bolster the presence of JSW Paints in the decorative paints segment and the firm stands to benefit from the well-recognised Dulux brand. Incidentally, another group company, JSW Cements, also led by Parth Jindal, has received the green light from Sebi and is set to launch its Rs 4,000-crore IPO over the next few months.
JSW Paints entered the sector in May 2019 and according to its website, has two manufacturing units, an industrial coatings facility at Vasind in Maharashtra and a decorative paints facility at Vijayanagar in Karnataka with a combined capacity of 170,000 KL per annum. Within a short span of time, it has already become the largest industrial coil coatings company in India, the website added.
The mega proposed acquisition comes at a time when established players like market leader Asian Paints, Berger Paints and Kansai Nerolac are facing increased competition post the entry of new players like Birla Opus from the Aditya Birla group, Astral Paints, Pidlite's Haisha Paints and JK Cements over the past few years.
In October 2024, Akzo Nobel NV announced that with an initial focus on its decorative paints positions in South Asia, it is conducting a strategic review of its portfolio in order to redeploy capital towards growing its core coatings businesses. The local business of AkzoNobel includes the decorative paints segment as well as the industrial paints segment.
As per an exchange disclosure earlier in January, it was announced that Akzo Nobel India will start exploring the potential sale of its powder coatings business as well as the R&D operations to a separate, indirect wholly-owned arm - as requested by the parent entity.
The board of Akzo Nobel India also informed that it has been asked to start the process of potential acquisition of intellectual properties under the decorative paints business that are currently owned by Akzo Nobel NV.
Following are the results of AkzoNobel India for financial year 2024-25 (compared with financial year 2023-24) - revenue from operations stood at Rs 4,091.2 crore, up by 3 percent , EBIT from operations flat at Rs 551.8 crore; double digit profitability sustained at 13.5 percent and PAT flat at Rs 428.6 crore.
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