International. Akzonobel's shareholders, at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the company, approved the separation of the Specialty Chemicals business as part of a strategy to create two focused, high-performance businesses: paints and coatings and specialty chemicals.
"The approval ensures that we maintain momentum in the process to separate our specialty chemicals business," said Oversight Board Chair Antony Burgmans. "Our new appointments bring a wealth of new knowledge and experience to our Boards, supporting AkzoNobel to deliver sustainable growth and value creation."
The reappointment of CFO Maarten de Vries to the Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2018, was also approved, along with the addition of Sue Clark, Patrick Thomas and Michiel Jaski to AkzoNobel's Supervisory Board.
Shareholder approval allows AkzoNobel to separate its specialty chemistry business through a private sale or legal spin-off. The two-track process ensures the appropriate flexibility needed to obtain an optimal outcome for shareholders and other stakeholders, as well as certainty of execution.
As previously announced, AkzoNobel intends to return the vast majority of the net proceeds from the separation of Specialty Chemicals to its shareholders, starting with anticipated proceeds of €1 billion through a special cash dividend. The special dividend will be paid on December 7, 2017.
