Akzo Nobel N.V.

Type Public (Euronext: AKZA)

Founded 1994

Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hans Wijers (CEO), Karel Vuursteen

Key people
(Chairman of the supervisory board)

Industry Chemicals

Basic and industrial chemicals,

Products decorative paints, industrial (re)finishing
products, coatings

Revenue ▲ €15.42 billion (2008)[1]

Operating
▼ (€626 million) (2008)[1]
income

Profit ▼ (€1.086 billion) (2008)[1]

Employees 60,000 (2008)[1]

Website www.akzonobel.com

History
AkzoNobel has a long history of mergers and divestments. Parts of the current company can be
traced back to 17th century companies. The milestone mergers and divestments are the formation
of AKZO in 1969, the merger with Nobel Industries in 1994 forming Akzo Nobel, and the
divestment of its pharmaceutical business and the merger with ICI in 2007/2008 resulting in
current day AkzoNobel
Nobel Industries 1646–1994
The Swedish weapons manufacturer Bofors was founded in Karlskoga in 1646. Nobel Industries
was created in 1984 by the merger of a chemical company, KemaNobel, and the armaments
maker, Bofors. Both Bofors and KemaNobel had historic ties to Alfred Nobel, the great 19th
century Swedish inventor who was the first to discover a way to detonate the flammable liquid
nitroglycerin.

A bit of history
ICI Pakistan Limited was set up as a public limited company in Pakistan in 1952. However, ICI
was an active presence in this part of the world well before the formation of the public limited
company and indeed, even before Pakistan itself was created.
1944
The Khewra Soda Ash Company, a predecessor of ICI Pakistan Limited, set up a soda ash
manufacturing facility in Khewra with a capacity of 18,000 tonnes per annum. This facility was
sited next to the salt range as rock salt and limestone, two key raw materials needed for
manufacturing soda ash, were available here in abundance.
1953
The Khewra Soda Ash company was incorporated as a public limited company.
1966
The Khewra Soda Ash Company changed its name to ICI Pakistan Manufacturers Limited.
Over the next few decades, major changes took place in the company as our Specialty Chemicals
and Polyester plants were commissioned, and Imperial Chemical Industries (Pakistan) Private
Limited and Paintex Limited both merged into ICI Pakistan Manufacturers Limited.
1987
We changed our name to ICI Pakistan Limited
We launch our Seeds business as well as the Dulux range of coatings.
We also established ICI Pakistan PowerGen and set up the ICI Pakistan Foundation as a
charitable trust.
1995
We set up a USD 490 million PTA manufacturing facility at Port Qasim, near Karachi.
1998
PTA manufacturing facility commissioned.
2000
The business was de-merged to form Pakistan PTA Limited, which was at the time a subsidiary
of ICI Plc UK.
2007
We completed 50 years of continuous listing on the Karachi Stock Exchange.
2008
We formally became part of the AkzoNobel Group, bringing us under the banner of one of the
largest coatings and chemicals companies in the world.