Singapore's Wuthelam will boost its share of Nippon Paint to 55%, or roughly $12.3B based on the stock price at the time of announcement. Nippon Paint Holding Co. is Japan's biggest paint and paint products manufacturer and the seventh largest paint manufacturing company in the world based on revenue.
While it currently enjoys dominance, Nippon is facing a shrinking market in Japan which will weigh heavily on revenues. As a result, a key goal of Nippon, once it is under the control of Wuthelam, will be to expand market share overseas and to leverage Wuthelam’s connections when doing so.
Wuthelam is an asset management company which has been in collaboration with Nippon for over 50 years. In 2014 Wuthelam started to become more aggressive in efforts to take control over the Japanese firm. That year, Wuthelam increased its stake in Nippon Paint from 14.5% to 39%. Today’s announcement marks the final steps in that process, and the share purchases are expected to be fully wrapped up by January.