Shareholders of Nuplex Industries Ltd. agreed Nov. 23 to purchase the coating resins business of Akzo Nobel NV for NZ$202 million (US$137.5 million).
With the addition, Auckland-based Nuplex projects its annual sales will grow about 70 percent and Europe will become its largest market. Nuplex had sales of NZ$654.7 million (US$410.4 million) for the year ended June 20.
``The acquisition will provide mass for efficiency and buying leverage, secure our competitive technology position for the future and enable us to participate in further global opportunities,'' Nuplex Managing Director John Hirst said in a news release. ``It will provide us with the springboard for growth for the next decade.'' The firm is adopting Nuplex International for its corporate identity.
Akzo Nobel of Arnhem, the Netherlands, said in September 2003 that it intended to sell the business as part of a divestment program. Plant locations include Louisville, Ky., and East St. Louis, Ill.
Some 850 Akzo Nobel employees, about one-third in the Netherlands, now work for Nuplex. The business focuses on industrial coatings. Acrylics, alkyds, polyesters and aminos are the key product lines.
