80-year era about to end as ICI goes Dutch
Dec 15 2007 by James Barton, The Journal
THE fall of ICI into foreign hands has taken another step after Akzo Nobel’s £8bn offer was cleared by European authorities.
The European Commission has agreed to the takeover on condition that the Dutch buyer sells its Crown Paints business because of ICI’s Dulux brand.
Akzo will dispose of Crown’s sites at Darwen near Blackburn, Hull, Warrington, Dublin and Belfast, as well as smaller businesses such as masonry paints maker Sandtex.
It is also selling businesses in Canada and Belgium as part of the agreement, reducing its paints revenues by £214.4m a year.
Chief executive Hans Wijers said: “We will be making every effort to ensure that these excellent businesses are transferred to the most appropriate new owners.”
Akzo has already received clearance from regulators in the US and Canada for the deal to create a group with combined revenues of £10.7bn a year.
ICI agreed to the approach last August after a two-month pursuit by Akzo, which expects the acquisition to be completed by January 2. The deal marks the end of 80 years of British ownership for ICI, formed in 1926 from the merger of four British chemical companies to challenge the rest of the world’s producers.
The company once had more than 30,000 staff in the North-East, principally on Teesside, but has gradually sold off or shut down its businesses in the region and now has only about 80 staff, at the Hammerite paint plant at Prudhoe in Northumberland.
One of the four founding businesses was the dynamite-making Scottish subsidiary of Swedish company Nobel Industries, which would later become part of Akzo Nobel.
Akzo wants cost savings of £189m from combining the two paints business.
The Dutch firm has also struck a deal to sell ICI’s adhesives and electronic materials business to German chemicals firm Henkel, maker of Persil washing detergent, for £2.7bn. ICI has about 3,500 staff in the UK with bases in Slough, Berkshire; Stowmarket, Suffolk; Birmingham and Hull as well as Prudhoe, and 26,000 worldwide.
