Nippon Paint inks $12 billion deal to join Singapore-based Wuthelam

Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Japan’s biggest paint maker, struck a 1.29 trillion yen ($12.2 billion) deal to join with billionaire Goh Cheng Liang’s Wuthelam Holdings Pte, seeking to create a dominant paints and coatings company in Asia.

The deal involves Wuthelam taking a majority stake by buying new shares in Nippon Paint, which will use the bulk of the money to buy out their joint ventures in China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Nippon Paint will also take over Wuthelam’s wholly owned Indonesia business for about $2 billion.

Nippon Paint has had ties for more than 50 years with Goh,