Crown Paints sold to Danish firm

Crown Paints has been bought by Danish firm Hempel in a multi-million pound deal.
The price-tag is believed to be in the region of £100m; Hempel bought the firm from Endless LLP. Last year Crown, which has 1,500 staff, made profits of £20m on sales of £180m.

Hempel posted profits of €92m on revenues of €889m in 2010. A global business, it supplies products to the decorative, protective, marine, container and yacht markets in more than 80 countries.

Crown Paints’ chief executive, Brian Davidson is staying with the business and said: “This deal marks the next milestone in Crown Paints’ illustrious history and signals the next phase in our exciting and ambitious growth plans.

“Endless invested into Crown Paints at a time of great uncertainty for the business, in the heart of the global financial crisis of late 2008. This helped to secure over 1,500 jobs when the business was loss-making and considered non-core by its previous owner.”

Hemple chief Pierre-Yves Jullien, said: “Crown Paints represents everything we were looking for – from a solid position in the market and strong financial situation, to innovative R&D and marketing. The acquisition will certainly help us in reaching our strategic goal.”