Valspar divesting wood coatings unit, sources say

16 March 2017 – Valspar [NYSE:VAL] is shopping its wood coatings business as the paint manufacturer works to close its sale to Sherwin-Williams [NYSE:SHW], a source familiar with the matter and two sources briefed on the situation said.

Sherwin-Williams announced in January it planned to close the deal at USD 113 per share within 90 days with a potential divestiture to resolve the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust concerns about the transaction. The planned divestiture is expected to have less than USD 650m in revenue, the company said. Sherwin-Williams has not specified the assets it will divest.

The Valspar wood coatings unit has around USD 275m in revenue and around USD 60m in EBITDA, said the first source familiar, who added the process is in the second round. The unit has USD 55m in LTM EBITDA, the first source briefed said.

JPMorgan is advising on the asset disposal, the source familiar and the first source briefed said. JPMorgan is advising Sherwin-Williams along with Citi, while Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are advising Valspar on the overall USD 11.3bn deal.

Valspar and Sherwin-Williams declined to comment. JPMorgan was not immediately available for comment….