Kansai Paint : to expand European business KANSAI HELIOS acquires The Railway Coatings business assets

Kansai Helios Coatings GmbH ("KANSAI HELIOS"), a European consolidated subsidiary of Kansai Paint Co., Ltd ("Kansai Paint") has agreed with Becker Industrie SAS ("Beckers"), a subsidiary of Beckers Group, to acquire its global Railway Coatings business assets.

The asset purchase agreement for the acquisition of the business assets was signed on December 9, 2022. KANSAI HELIOS will - after its completion of closing conditions - acquire all business assets of Beckers in the Railway Coatings segment, such as recipes and railway homologations, customer database (excluding customers from India and China).As a part of this transaction, KANSAI HELIOS will establish a new and at the same time its first subsidiary in France, KANSAI HELIOS France SAS, which will collaborate within the KANSAI HELIOS Group to conduct the railway coating business acquired from Beckers.The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.(KANSAI HELIOS :　December Financial Year Closing)

■About Beckers Group
Beckers Group is the number one supplier of coil coatings and a leading supplier of industrial paint worldwide, founded in 1865, with production in 23 locations in 17 countries and sales in 60 countries.

■About KANSAI HELIOS
KANSAI HELIOS, based in Austria, provides a wide range of coatings, including industrial coatings, in a wide area of Europe. KANSAI HELIOS has two brands of railway coatings, Rembrandtin and Helios, and has achieved a solid market position in the Europe, with the addition of KANSAI HELIOS Wefa GmbH ("Wefa"), which was established in Germany in August 2022 through the acquisition of its business assets. By taking over the Beckers' business, since which has a strong position and high technological capabilities in railway coatings in France and neighboring countries, we will be able to enter new markets such as France and further strengthen our competitiveness in the industrial field, including railway coatings, in Europe and worldwide.

Kansai Paint Group has set "aggressive investment in growth areas" as one of the key principles in the 17th Medium-term Management Plan, which started in April 2022. We will expand overseas businesses by reinforcing our strengths, mainly in Europe and India, andPromoting small- and medium-sized M&A within the ¥20 billion framework with the aim of having them complement each other mutually. This acquisition follows the August 2022 acquisition of Wefa and the November 30, 2022, acquisition of shares of a powder coating business company CWS Lackfabrik GmbH in Europe. In order to promote our group strategy of "shift to B to B business" and "strengthening focused businesses and fields such as India and Europe", We will continue to pursue not only small and medium-sized M&A that will optimize our business portfolio, but also explore the possibility of large-sized M&A.

■Related News Release
・Notice about acquisition of shares of a powder coating business company in Europe
(to make it a consolidated subsidiary)　　PDF

■Related Documents
・November 17 ,2021 Strategy Briefings　　PDF

■Summary of Kansai Paint
Company name : Kansai Paint Co.,Ltd
Head Office : 6-14, Imabashi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka 541-8523, Japan
Name of representative: MORI Kunishi, Representative Director of the Board, President
Date Established : May ,1918
Outline of Operations : ・Manufacturing and sale of paints and coatings ・Color design
・Manufacturing and sale of biorelated products and electronic materials related products
Corporate website : https://www.kansai.com

■About KANSAI HELIOS
Company name : Kansai Helios Coatings GmbH
Head Office : Ignaz-Kock-Strasse 15 1210 Vienna, Austria
Name of representative: KAJIMA Junichi
Date Established : November 19 , 2005
Outline of Operations : Holding company of paints and coatings manufacturing and sales company
Main Shareholders and holding ratio : Kansai Paint Co.,Ltd. 80%
Corporate website : https://www.kansai-helios.eu/

■About the New Company
Company name : KANSAI HELIOS France SAS
Date Established : January 2023 (To be determined)
Outline of Operations : Sales of paints and coatings
Main Shareholders and holding ratio ：Kansai Helios Coatings GmbH 　100％

■About Kansai Paint
For more than a century since its establishment in 1918, Kansai Paint has been providing technologies cultivated in the paint and coatings business.
Under the mission statement― "We leverage superior technology to contribute to our Customers and Society in a sustainable manner, with innovative Products and Services, through a competent workforce, built on a culture of Customer focus, Integrity, and Respect to our Stakeholders.", We will contribute to the global environment and the world and aim to be a Great company that continues to grow sustainably.

Contact Information

Kansai Paint Co., Ltd
Investor and Public Relations Dept. Corporate Panning Div. (Horiguchi,Yamamoto）
TEL：[phone]　　E-mail：[e-mail]（Horiguchi）
TEL：[phone]　　E-mail：[e-mail]（Yamamoto）