Deals
Nippon Paint Fails to Strike Deal With Buffett-Backed Axalta
- Japanese paintmaker unwilling to pay U.S. company’s price
- Possibility of Axalta merging with Akzo Nobel renewed
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Nippon Paint Holdings Co. failed to reach an agreement to buy Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., dashing the Japanese paintmaker’s plans to expand sales to automobile manufacturers and bolster its U.S. footprint. Axalta shares plunged and Nippon Paint stock climbed.
Nippon Paint was “unwilling to meet our expectations” regarding Axalta’s value and to take on the debt needed to complete such a large deal, the U.S. company said Thursday. Shares of Nippon Paint, which said Friday that both companies had decided not to pursue a transaction, jumped the most in more than a year in Tokyo trading.