Nuplex Industries, headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, specializes in the production of resins for paint, adhesives, ink, fiberglass, paper, protective and decorative flooring materials, waterproofing products, and specialized plasters.

Hans Wijers, chairman of the Akzo Nobel board of management, said proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce debt and invest in stronger growth portions of the company's portfolio.

The sale includes the entire Coatings Resins business, which also encompasses two consolidated joint ventures in Malaysia and Indonesia, and a non-consolidated joint venture in Thailand. Other key locations are in the United Kingdom and the United States. The business's work force of approximately 850 will transfer to the new ownership.

The Coating Resins business operates manufacturing sites at Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands; London; Louisville, Ky.; East St. Louis, Ill.; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Surabaya, Indonesia; and Melaka, Malaysia. A grassroots plant is in operation at Suzhou, China. The business's main office is at Bergen op Zoom.

The business's primary market focus is industrial coatings segments, particularly the automotive OEM, auto-refinish, plastics and specialty metal markets. Key product lines are acrylics (solvent and waterborne), alkyds (mainly solventborne), polyesters (solventborne and powder) and aminos (solventborne).

The sale does not include Akzo Nobel's UV/EB Resins business, which is being sold separately, or the Printing Ink Resins business, which has been merged with the Pine Specialties business, part of the Pulp and Paper Chemicals business unit.