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Nippon Paint to Acquire Rohm and Haas Auto Coatings

LANSING, Ill./PHILADELPHIA - Nippon Paint Co., Ltd. (NPC), Osaka, Japan, announced that it will purchase the majority of Rohm and Haas Company's Automotive Coatings business. Specifically, the sale involves the Rohm and Haas North American Automotive Coatings business (United States, Canada and Mexico) including the company's facilities based in Lansing, Ill., as well as its interests in two joint ventures with NPC. This includes Morton Nippon Coatings in North America and Nippon Bee Chemical in Japan and other Asian countries. Rohm and Haas had acquired these businesses through the acquisition of Morton International, Inc., in 1999.

Terms of the sale include approximately $230 million in cash subject to adjustments at closing. The transaction does not include Rohm and Haas Company's European Automotive Coatings business. Rohm and Haas also intends to divest that portion of the business and is actively pursuing potential buyers.

In commenting on the sale, Alan E. Barton, Rohm and Haas Company vice president and business group executive, Coatings, noted that the sale is consistent with Rohm and Haas Company's portfolio-management strategy.

Makoto Matsuura, NPC president, said, "This transaction enables NPC to further enhance and expand its automotive coatings business by combining the automotive body coatings business and the plastic coatings business under a single global strategy."

Nippon Paint is one of the largest paint companies in Japan and also is a substantial player in the global automotive body paint market, with strong ties to Toyota, Honda and Mazda. For more information, visit www.nipponpaint.co.jp.

Rohm and Haas is a global leader in the creation and development of innovative technologies and solutions for the specialty materials industry. Visit www.rohmhaas.com for more information.