US PPG to acquire Mexico coatings firm Comex for $2.3bn
Graeme Paterson
30-Jun-2014
(adds paragraphs 9-11)
LONDON (ICIS)–PPG Industries is to acquire Mexican coatings
firm Consorcio Comex in a deal valued at $2.3bn, the US-based
firm said on Monday.
“The acquisition is very complementary to PPG as it
adds a leading architectural coatings business in Mexico and
Central America, a region where we have negligible
architectural coatings presence,” said PPG’s chairman and CEO
Charles Bunch.
Mexico City-based Comex makes coatings and
related products which it sells through around 3,600
independently owned stores.
The privately held company, which employs
around 3,900 people, had sales of approximately $1bn in 2013.
It has eight manufacturing facilities and six distribution
centres.
PPG, a coatings and
specialty materials firm, will primarily fund the
acquisition using currently held cash and short-term
investments but may fund a portion through the addition of
debt, Bunch said.
Excluding non-recurring
acquisition-related costs, the deal will be immediately
accretive to earnings, he added, with the company
anticipating acquisition-related synergies of 3% to 4% of
acquired sales to be achieved over a two-year period.
Marcos Achar Levy, CEO of Comex, said:
“Being part of PPG gives us new opportunities and synergies
that will allow us to continue to significantly grow in our
markets.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory
approvals and customary closing conditions.
Earlier, another paints-and-coatings producer, Sherwin-Williams, had attempted to acquire Comex in November 2012 for $2.34bn.
In July 2013, Mexico’s federal competition commission rejected the deal in a 3-2 vote.
Earlier this year, Comex sought damages regarding the failed deal through the International Chamber of Commerce.
Additional reporting by Al
Greenwood
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