Akzo Nobel seals ICI buyout

Dutch conglomerate Akzo Nobel has completed its acquisition of ICI, with all shares in the company ceasing to trade on the London Stock Exchange from today (3 January).

The UK-based chemicals company was bought in August for £8.1bn, valuing each share at 670p – a fifth higher than their closing price at the time.

Shareholders will also receive an interim dividend of 5p for every share.

The deal will create the world's largest paint company, with around 15% of the world coatings market.

It will also see ICI's print-related activities, such as papermaking solutions from National Starch and inkjet papers and film products from ICI Imagedata, moving to Akzo.

ICI's adhesives division, which makes envelope glue among other activities, will move to Germany's Henkel group, which makes Persil detergent, in a £2.7bn cash deal.