Dutch giant Akzo Nobel on the lookout for paint producers

Akzo Nobel Dutch group, the world's biggest paint producer, with 13.9bn-euro annual turnover, is in early talks with the five largest players on the Romanian market, and has made headway in discussions with producers held by investment funds. While it has disclosed no name, the Dutch company is wooing Fabryo, Policolor or Deutek, the companies owned by investment funds, which have reshuffled their product portfolios in the past two years to be more appealing to large international players in the paint industry, such as Akzo Nobel, PPG (the US), BASF Coatings (Germany) or Tikkurila (Finland). Foreign paint giants have not operated any acquisition so far, despite having studied the Romanian market ever since 2006-2007. Yet, as the "market is not stable", a future deal will be concluded in 2011 at the earliest. "We are already in initial talks with several investment funds owning paint and varnish producers domestically. Our target is the top five players, with similar market shares. A deal is unlikely this year, because the market is not stable, but an acquisition will certainly be sealed," says Marius Pintea, market manager with Akzo Nobel Coatings, the domestic subsidiary of the Dutch group.