On June 1, 2022, Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. (“Kansai Paint”) announced that Kansai Paint entered into an agreement to sale its Africa business to Akzo Nobel N.V. (“AkzoNobel”), a global leading coatings company under the Share Purchase Agreement (“Agreement”). However, we hereby announce that Kansai Paint and AkzoNobel today have terminated the Agreement.

With regard to the share transfer under the Agreement (“Transfer”), Kansai Paint has advanced the process for antitrust approval of the relevant authorities. However, the Competition Tribunal in South Africa, which is an important region for Kansai Paint’s African business, has issued an order prohibiting the Transfer. As the closing of the Transfer is subject to the antitrust approval of the relevant authorities, the parties have agreed to pursue different paths and have terminated the Agreement on November 29, 2023.

Kansai Paint will continue to operate its African business and aim to strengthen its competitiveness in the African market, improve customer satisfaction and continue to contribute to the development of the African society through the paint business. Kansai Paint will also remain committed to maximizing the enterprise value through enhancing governance over its Africa business and fully realizing group synergies.

The termination of the Transfer will have no impact on the Kansai Paint’s business results for this fiscal year and its growth investment and shareholder return.