AkzoNobel Sells Southeast Asia Paints Business to Nippon Paint for $1.35 Billion

AkzoNobel has agreed to sell its Southeast Asian decorative paints business to Nippon Paint for $1.35 billion. This move completes a review of its Asian decorative paints portfolio. The sale includes operations in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. After tax and payments to minority partners, AkzoNobel expects to receive about $1 billion in net cash proceeds.

AkzoNobel had previously divested its decorative paints operations in India and Pakistan for $1.6 billion and 50 million euros, respectively. The company's CEO, Greg Poux-Guillaume, stated that this sale aligns with their strategy to focus on areas where they can achieve greater scale and strengthen their market position.

The transaction involving Indonesia is expected to close separately in late 2026, while the remaining transactions are anticipated to finalize around mid-2027. AkzoNobel will now concentrate on completing its merger with US coatings maker Axalta, which was announced in November of last year.

Nippon Paint had earlier submitted multiple proposals to acquire AkzoNobel’s decorative paints business, valuing it at about €7.5 billion ($8.44 billion). This followed the withdrawal of a €12.5 billion bid for the entire company that Nippon Paint had pursued jointly with Sherwin-Williams in June. The Financial Times reported that Nippon remains interested in a larger deal but that integrating the Southeast Asia business could take some time.