£8bn ICI deal backed
SHAREHOLDERS have given their backing to the £8bn takeover of ICI by Dutch firm Akzo Nobel.
Yesterday ICI shareholders gave the deal approval. Shareholders of Akzo Nobel had previously agreed the takeover.
Akzo agreed in August to buy ICI, which makes Dulux paints, to create the world’s biggest paintmaker and retain its lead in industrial coatings.
The deal was set to be completed on January 2.
ICI employs about 100 staff on Teesside and has a large number of pensioners living locally.
In the 1960s it employed about 30,000 people at sites across the Tees Valley.
Akzo had to raise its bid for ICI twice to secure the takeover. The Netherlands group already has 900 staff at its international paints plant in Felling, Gateshead.
ICI also has a Hammerite plant in Prudhoe, Northumberland.
Buying ICI will give Akzo a market-leading position in paint and also allow it to retain its lead in industrial coatings, under threat from US PPG Industries, which plans to buy Dutch rival SigmaKalon for about £1.5bn.
The deal with Akzo ends more than 80 years of British ownership for ICI, which was founded in 1926 by the merger of four chemical companies.
