Top Newsmakers – Major Coatings Headlines in 2012

By Cynthia Challener

It is hard to believe, but the end of another year is fast approaching. As 2012 draws to an end, major weather events, political elections, and a looming fiscal cliff occupy the general U.S. news headlines. What were the top newsmakers for paint and coatings during the past year? That depends on who you ask, of course. Collected below are the comments of people involved in various aspects of the paint and coatings market, including representatives from a paint man­ufacturer (Diana Strongosky, vice president of research & development for the Global Supply Chain at The Sherwin-Williams Company), a raw material supplier (Eric J. Kaiser, marketing director for Arkema Coating Resins), a distributor (Kim Koenig and Martin Will, technical sales support representatives for Paints, Inks, Coatings & Adhesives at Nexeo Solutions), two consul­tants (Michael D. Brown, president, StrategyMark, Inc. and George Pilcher, vice president, The ChemQuest Group, Inc.) and, from the American Coatings Association, an industry analyst (Allen Irish, director of industry affairs and counsel) and technology expert (Steve Sides, vice president, science, technology, and environmental policy).

Although DuPont’s performance coatings business was not acquired by a rival paint com­pany and no consolidation of the industry will occur as a result, this sale to investment firm Carlyle Group LP for $4.9 billion was considered by many to be the top newsmaker of the year. “DuPont’s performance coating business is the number four paint provider globally, so this sale is significant for the industry, but it is also important in the broader context of the chemical industry,” states Michael D. Brown of StrategyMark, Inc. “With this transaction, DuPont has final­ized a process that it began in the 1980s to exit the paint and coatings industry as it converts itself from a successful chemical giant to a company focused on agriculture and nutrition, ad­vanced materials, and biotechnology.”

In addition, Brown believes that the new management will be much more focused on the business than DuPont has been in recent years. This will have a positive impact on the industry, particularly with respect to the automotive segment. “As a result, the competitive environment in the sectors in which the business participates could change. Overall, though, it will be healthy for the business and for the industry,” Brown asserts.