No date set for Akzo Nobel's Organon IPO

29 January 2007 13:15  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Akzo Nobel is still on track with an initial public offering (IPO) for its Organon biosciences business in early 2007 but has not set a specific date yet, a company spokesman said on Monday.

He added that media reports claiming that management had sent a letter to staff informing them of an IPO at the end of March were not correct and that a final decision had not been made.

The company's share price rose 1.05% on Monday to €48.10 at 12.47 GMT.

The Dutch chemicals and pharmaceuticals firm said on Thursday (25 January) that it was sticking to the IPO after rejecting recent proposals from private equity firms to buy the unit as a whole.

Akzo said it had reviewed the offers from the perspective of long-term shareholder value creation but had decided not to divert resources away from pursuing the Organon listing.

The company hopes to list 20-30% of Organon shares, which analysts estimate would be worth around €9bn ($11.6bn).

The company spokesman said it would still keep all options open and would consider any compelling offers for the pharmaceuticals business.

Analysts have said a possible outright sale of the business would yield the company profits to buy UK paints and coatings firm ICI, although this has always been dismissed by Akzo Nobel as pure speculation.

($1 = €0.77)

By: Hilde Ovrebekk
+44 20 8652 3214

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