US private equity firm
Bain put the business up for sale in the spring, hiring and
Bain paid around €1bn in March 2003 from French oil and gas giant TotalFinaElf (now called Total). “SigmaKalon has very successfully developed over the last four years into a best-in-class global coatings company, and we believe the combination with PPG will allow the company to continue – and in some areas accelerate – its successful strategy,” added Walid Sarkis, a managing director at Bain Capital based in London.
PPG sees SigmaKalon as a way of expanding its European business. At the time the Pittsburgh headquartered announced it had tabled a bid for the company, Charles E. Bunch, chairman and chief executive officer, said: “It would give us an excellent footprint in the European architectural coatings segment, where today we have very nominal participation. This acquisition would give us a more balanced coatings business in Europe, approximately doubling our European sales, and expand our global coatings portfolio by more than 40%.”