Akzo to firm up India presence with ICI buy

Now that British paints major Imperial Chemical Industries Plc has agreed to open its books for Dutch rival Akzo Nobel after the latter increased its offer price to $16 billion, ICI India, which is a 51% subsidiary of ICI Plc, will become very soon become a Akzo Nobel company and Akzo will become the fourth largest player in the Indian paints industry.

Written by Papiya De

August 7, 2007 00:00 IST

Now that British paints major Imperial Chemical Industries Plc (ICI) has agreed to open its books for Dutch rival Akzo Nobel after the latter increased its offer price to $16 billion, ICI India, which is a 51% subsidiary of ICI Plc, will become very soon become a Akzo Nobel company and Akzo will become the fourth largest player in the Indian paints industry.

ICI India is the fourth largest Indian paints company, focussed on the decorative segment with its Dulux and Velvet Touch brands. ICI which has a 10% market share in India has been growing at 20% for the past few years against a paint industry growth average of 15%.

Around 12 years ago, Akzo had entered the Indian market by through its acquisition of powder coatings company, Courtalds. It is only in the past two years, that Akzo has entered the decorative segment, albeit with not much success. Globally, about 70% of Akzo?s turnover comes from its industrial paints division. Its strength in industrial coatings will complement ICI India?s strong decorative focus.

Interestingly, Akzo with its deep pockets can rapidly change the dynamics of the domestic paint industry. Currently, the market share of Kansai Nerolac and Berger Paints, the second and the third largest player is about 14 % each, whereas ICI lags at about 10%.

This article was first uploaded on August seven, twenty seven, at zero minutes past twelve in the am.