6,400 jobs at risk if Dulux isn’t sold off, says investor

VULTURES pushing for the sale of the firm behind Dulux paint claims 6,400 jobs could be lost if it remains independent.

Rebel shareholders led by Elliott Advisors are demanding Akzo Nobel engages with rival PPG Industries, which has made a third £22bn takeover offer after its first two were rejected.

Now the US activist has commissioned a study that warns four times as many jobs could be lost under Akzo’s proposal to spin off its speciality chemicals business and remain independent, compared to the number lost under the takeover.

Firing the latest shot in an increasingly bitter battle, an Elliott spokesman said: ‘Elliott believes there is a strong probability that Akzo Nobel employees would have greater job security and significantly more growth opportunities in a combined PPG and Akzo Nobel scenario than they would under the stand-alone scenario.’

Akzo spokesman Leslie McGibbon described the report, carried out by consultants ChemQuest, as an ‘imaginative work of fiction’.

He said Akzo has, in recent years, cut costs with little or no impact on jobs and expected that to continue even if the chemicals division is separated. Under its independence plan it expects to cut around £169m per year in the coming years. Chief executive Ton Buchner has stressed the business could be strong as a stand-alone company and would stand by its staff.