Akzo Nobel rejects PPG takeover bid, says will sell or float chemicals arm

By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Akzo Nobel NV, the Dutch paints and coatings maker, on Thursday rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from U.S. rival PPG Industries Inc, saying the offer "undervalued" the company.

Akzo, one of the Netherlands' biggest blue chip companies, said it was instead considering floating or selling its Specialty Chemicals business, which had 4.8 billion euros ($5.05 billion) in sales in 2016.

Akzo said PPG's offer in a mix of cash and shares was "unsolicited, non-binding and conditional" and worth around 83 euros per share. That was a 29 percent premium to Akzo's closing price of 64.42 euros in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

Shares later surged in U.S. trade after news of a possible deal began to emerge. PPG declined to comment on Wednesday about the bid.

Akzo's management and supervisory boards unanimously ?concluded that the PPG proposal substantially undervalued it "by failing to reflect the long-term value creation potential of the company."

Akzo said the PPG offer was also risky because cost savings were uncertain, it would lead to a highly leveraged company, and it stood a good chance of being blocked by regulators.

Sources told Reuters late Wednesday that Akzo was weighing a PPG offer after an earlier Bloomberg report.

The offer for Akzo comes one week ahead of a Dutch national election in which foreign takeovers has become a politicized issue.

Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Tuesday warned that large Dutch companies were being targeted by foreign buyers because they are cash-rich and called for a panel modeled on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) with the power to block industrial takeovers.

Akzo, whose brands include Dulux paint, fell short of analyst earnings estimates in the last three months of 2016, as the marine and energy sectors weighed. Restructuring costs also pressured results.

PPG said in December it would launch a global restructuring program, targeting $125 million in annual savings. It also said it would cut 1,700 jobs, about 3.6 percent of its global workforce.

($1 = 0.9497 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Randy Fabi)