Nippon Paint offers $8.6 billion for AkzoNobel decorative paints unit

By Anton Bridge

July 13 (Reuters) - AkzoNobel has received multiple proposals from Nippon Paint to buy its decorative paints business valuing the business at €7.5 billion ($8.55 billion), it said on Monday, a month after Nippon Paint withdrew an offer to buy the whole firm along with U.S.-based Sherwin-Williams for €12.5 billion.

AkzoNobel, which makes the Dulux brand of paints, rejected Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams' earlier offer in May, pushing ahead instead with its plan to merge with U.S. coatings maker Axalta.

Paint makers are pursuing mergers to save money amid rising costs, intense competition, and uncertainty sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on imported goods.

In the Monday statement, AkzoNobel said its board continues to recommend the Axalta merger and that Nippon Paint's offer significantly undervalues its decorative paints business.

Nippon Paint's offers are conditional and non-binding, AkzoNobel said, adding that its merger agreement with Axalta restricts it from any engagement with Nippon Paint.

No specific matters regarding the acquisition have been decided, Nippon Paint said in a statement earlier on Monday.

The approach was first reported by Bloomberg News on Sunday. 

In May, AkzoNobel said Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams' offer to take over the entire firm undervalued its business, lacked certainty on regulatory clearances and would split the company between two suitors.

Merging with Axalta would bring cost savings of $600 million and enable the combined entity to focus more on coatings, which are more resilient in a consumer downturn than decorative paints, Chief Executive Greg Poux-Guillaume said in an interview with Reuters in 2025.

Poux-Guillaume would remain as the group's chief executive following the merger.

AkzoNobel and Axalta are set to hold shareholder meetings to vote on the Axalta tie-up on August 5.

Nippon Paint shares fell around 2.5% on Monday afternoon, trading at around 1,050 yen per share.

($1 = 0.8775 euros)

(Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru and Anton Bridge and Miho Uranaka in Tokyo; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Jamie Freed and Kate Mayberry)