market outlook, are the basis for the board to propose to the
annual general meeting that 86% of the shares of Tikkurila
be distributed as dividend to Kemira’s shareholders,” said
Paivi Antola, Kemira’s senior investor relations manager.
The downturn has, nonetheless, become a time of
opportunity for companies which do have the financial
resources for takeovers, particularly those which are
targeting SME producers.
RPM International, Medina, OH, a world leader in specialty coatings, sealants and building materials, has been
continuing its expansion into Europe through acquisition
of niche producers. In January it announced it had
acquired Universal Sealants, a UK-based producer of protection coatings, and then a few weeks disclosed that
through Flowcrete Group, a subsidiary in Cheshire,
England, it had taken over the Irish industrial flooring
business Resins Developments Ltd., Belfast.
Altana AG of Germany, a leading supplier of specialty
coatings ingredients, has been under financial pressures
due to falling sales but it has had the benefit of having
Susanne Klatten, the country’s richest woman, as vice
chair of its supervisory board and a majority shareholder.
Last year the company suffered a 12% fall in sales to
€1.2 billion and a 17% decline in EBITDA to €204 million.
Much of the drop in profits was due to impairment charges
in its effect pigments operation, which was severely affected by the slump in the automobile industry.
However through her own takeover vehicle SKion
GmbH, Klatten has mounted a 100% acquisition of Altana.
By early February she had gained 95% control of the company. There has been speculation that she might try to
merge it with SGL Carbon, a major carbon and graphite
products supplier, in which she has a substantial stake.
Distributors, some of them owned by equity funds, have
also been taking advantage of sluggish demand to make
bigger inroads into the coatings sector.
Brenntag, the world’s biggest chemicals distributor
owned by BC Partners private equity firm of Hamburg,
Germany has just taken over Metausel, a French distributor of coatings and other chemicals.
Univar, owned by CVC Capital Partners of London and
one of Europe’s biggest distributors of coatings chemicals,
has agreed to acquire Quaron Group, a distributor of coatings and other chemicals in Belgium, France and the
Netherlands.
“The acquisition of Quaron is part of our accelerated growth
plans in the whole of Europe,” said Sergio de Sola, Univar’s
European marketing manager for coatings. “It will enable us to
strengthen our position in the Benelux countries and France
by providing value-added services to more customers.”
“During tough economic times like today’s there are
EUROPE
International Coatings Scene
competitors out there who are under financial strain,” he
said. “This could potentially provide room for growth for
Univar through acquisition.”
Like other distributors in Europe, Univar is also provid-
ing facilities for suppliers of coatings chemicals from out-
side Europe, particularly from China and India, to expand
in the region.
