In race to buy Akzo Nobel’s India biz, confirms JSW
Times of India | 11 January 2025
12 Kolkata: JSW Group on Friday confirmed that it was in the race to take over the business of Dutch paints major Akzo Nobel in India. Akzo own brands like Dulux.
"As far as Akzo is concerned, we are running a process. We would look for inorganic opportunities as a group," said JSW Paints joint MD Sundaresan AS while he was speaking on the sidelines of the Indian Paints Association (IPA) AGM here on Friday. It was learnt that Akzo would divest the decorative business in India, while the powder coating business and R&D may remain with the parent company.
On Jan 6, Akzo had said that its parent entity Akzo Nobel NV (ANNV) had proposed a strategic evaluation of its powder coatings business and R&D. Initially, there was speculation that JSW Group, Adani Group, Aditya Birla Group and Asian Paints Ltd were approached as potential buyers for the deal. However, Aditya Birla Group clarified later that it was not in the race.
Birla Opus eyes high mkt share: Birla Opus, paints division of Aditya Birla behemoth Grasim, is hoping for a high single-digit market share by end of March. Opus CEO R Hargave said that of its six proposed plants, four had started commercial production. The fifth plant in Maharashtra would start commercial production while the Kharagpur unit would start a trial run by end of this quarter.