Sherwin-Williams to Acquire Comex
The Sherwin-Williams Company announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Consorcio Comex, S.A.
de C.V., a leader in the paint and coatings
market in Mexico with headquarters in
Mexico City. Sherwin-Williams will pay
approximately $2.34 billion, including
assumed debt, in an all-cash transaction.
Completion of the acquisition is subject
to certain conditions and customary regulatory approvals.
Founded in 1952, Comex is a privately held business with operations in Latin
America, the U.S. and Canada. In 2011,
Comex had total annual sales of $1.4 billion. The company manufactures and
sells architectural and industrial coatings in Mexico through 3,300 points of
sale operated by 750 concessionaires. In
the U.S., Comex sells paint and coatings
products under a variety of brand names
through 240 company-operated paint
stores. In Canada, the company markets multiple brands of paint and coatings through 78 company-operated paint
stores and approximately 1,500 independent paint dealers.
Comex, like Sherwin-Williams, places
heavy emphasis on supplying high-quality architectural paints and coatings. The
company’s product assortment also includes various industrial, protective and
specialty coatings. Comex operates eight
manufacturing sites in Mexico, five in the
U.S. and three in Canada and has more
than 7,200 employees.
“Sherwin-Williams and Comex Group
are an ideal fit in every respect – geographically, strategically and culturally,”
said Christopher M. Connor, Chairman
and CEO of Sherwin-Williams. “This
transaction will significantly increase
our presence in markets where our store
count is low, it builds upon our strategy
to grow our architectural paint business
in the Americas and it brings a high-quality, dedicated team of employees to
Sherwin-Williams. We are proud to welcome such a well-respected company
and their employees into the Sherwin-
Williams family.”
Marcos Achar Levy, CEO of Comex,
commented, “We are very pleased and ex-
cited to join the Sherwin-Williams team
and look forward to making a major
contribution to the Company’s ongoing
success across the Americas. We have re-
spected Sherwin-Williams for years, and
are delighted to now be a partner. Comex
and its committed employees know
Sherwin-Williams well, and I am confi-
dent that joining the Sherwin-Williams
family will provide an outstanding future
for our employees and customers.”
New PPG Brochure
Highlights Pretreatment
and Engineered Products
PPG Industries’ industrial coatings business has published a new brochure detailing its complete range of pretreatment
and engineered products for protecting
metal in automobiles, appliances, consumer electronics and industrial products.
The four-page booklet describes
the broad range of PPG’s pretreatment
products, organized according to typical industrial processes such as drawing
and stamping compounds, rust-corro-sion inhibitors, cleaners, descalers, zinc
and iron phosphates, and final rinses
and sealers. ZIircobond and X-Bond
pretreatments, two environmentally advanced zirconium-based products that
both received R&D Magazine’s R&D
100 Award, are featured.
The brochure highlights four engineered product categories, encompassing seven products such as new Durabull
protective polyurea coatings, which are
used to protect vehicles and their exterior components from road debris,
stone chips, chemicals and other abrasive materials. Other engineered products are Spectracon zinc-rich basecoats,
Audioguard noise-reduction coatings and
Corabond adhesives and sealants.
Readers can also review PPG’s
technical and service capabilities, with
value-added expertise in areas such as
defect analysis, physical and mechanical
testing, engineering and production training, production line design and start-up
assistance, and troubleshooting.
Valspar Paint Signs
Distribution Deal for United
Kingdom and Ireland
The Valspar Corporation announced
an agreement with B&Q, an operating
company of Kingfisher plc, the world’s
third largest DIY retail conglomerate,
to supply a full selection of premium
Valspar paint to all 350 of its locations
in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Valspar will be positioned as one of
B&Q’s flagship paint brands and the
two companies are collaborating to create an entirely new consumer experience
not seen before in the U.K. decorative
paints marketplace. The partnership
significantly expands Valspar’s presence
in the U.K. and Ireland and will bring
consumers more choices for interior
and exterior paints that can be custom
tinted to virtually any color. Previously,
B&Q’s stores offered primarily ready-mix paints in a smaller assortment of
colors and textures. The new retail
concept will be rolled out to all 350
locations throughout 2013. Due to the
timing of the up-front investment, this
initiative is not expected to have a material impact on Valspar’s earnings in
fiscal 2013.
“Our partnership with B&Q is another important step in expanding our
global consumer paint business and
bringing innovative paint solutions to
new retail partners and markets,” said
Gary Hendrickson, chairman and chief
executive officer of Valspar. “We’re
looking forward to helping B&Q grow
the paint category and making its
stores the destination of choice in the
U.K and Ireland for consumers’ painting projects.”
