Akzo Nobel Adds to Coatings Operations

Akzo Nobel's industrial finishes business has opened two new multipurpose coatings facilities in China. These bring the number of its plants in the country to eight, with two more plants, for powder coatings, under construction. One of the newly opened facilities is in Tianjin, 80 miles from Beijing, and the other is in the Shanghai vicinity. Both will focus on production of coatings for wood, coil, and specialty plastics. Separately, Akzo Nobel has bought the coil coating business of Rhenacoat, the French subsidiary of German specialties producer Altana Chemie, for an undisclosed price. Altana had sales of about $15 million last year.