Update on Axalta

Here I thought Thanksgiving week was going to be quiet…

After hours today, shares of Axalta Costing System (AXTA) plunged 15% on news that it had ended merger talks with Akzo Nobel. I had warned that they were just talking and that no deal had been announced.

Then we learned that the reason they broke off talks was because Nippon Paint Holdings had made an all-cash offer for Axalta. Yeah, I can see how that would change things.

I think we can assume that Axalta gave Akzo Nobel a chance to beat that offer, and they declined. That’s all we really know at this point. AXTA rallied in the after-hours market and got to $35.29 which is a gain of 4.2% over Tuesday’s closing price. It was a wild ride for the stock and it all happened after regular trading had ended.

I don’t have much to add at this point. I hope to find out soon what price Nippon is offering. I also like the idea of an all-cash deal.

This is going to get interesting.

Posted by on November 21st, 2017 at 10:53 pm


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