The firm, which manufactures around 34,000 tonnes per year, will retain the Akzo Nobel name under licence, but could be renamed.

Akzo Nobel board member of Coatings Division, Rudy van der Meer, said: While Printing Inks delivered a positive financial performance in 2001 under difficult market conditions, and has a number of leading positions in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, our view is that it no longer fits with our product portfolio from a strategic perspective.

Private equity company NeSBIC Buy Out Fund backed the deal, which was for an undisclosed sum.

The divisions 900 worldwide employees will be retained by the new company, which has a manufacturing plant in Manchester for narrow web and web offset inks, as well as sheetfed offset centres in Surrey, Bearsden and Ilkley, and narrow web interests in Cumbernauld.

Global interests include manufacturing plants in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, South Africa and the US.

Last year sales of printing inks within the Coatings Division were 116.9m (euro 190m).

Story by John Davies