ICI, the former bellwether of the British economy, today falls under foreign ownership after agreeing a deal with Akzo Nobel, a Dutch conglomerate, that values the British maker of Dulux paints at £8.1 billion (€11.96 billion).
The company joins a long list of British industrial blue chips that have been bought by foreign bidders in recent years. These include steelmaker Corus, industrial gases group BOC and glassmaker Pilkington.
Akzo and ICI spent the weekend finalising the details of the due diligence process ahead of today's 10am deadline set by the UK Takeover Panel.
The deal values ICI at about 679p a share - including 670p in cash and an extra 9p in dividends. This represents a 45 per cent premium to ICI's price in mid-March, when Akzo's sale of a pharmaceuticals business fuelled speculation about a bid for ICI.
Some ICI investors had been determined to secure an offer of 700p a share, but given that Akzo has come up from its first indicative offer of 600p a share and in view of the turbulence in global markets over recent days, they are unlikely to oppose the deal. Akzo still needs to secure the backing of its own shareholders. TPG-Axon, a US-based fund that holds 3.5 per cent, is bitterly opposed to the deal.
- (Financial Times service)
