AkzoNobel chemicals becomes Nouryon

AkzoNobel’s former chemical business has become an independent company named Nouryon under its new venture capital owner, the Carlyle Group, which acquired it for $11.6 billion. The new name is a nod to Jan Nourij, a cofounder of the 19th-century Dutch milling firm that became a founding company of AkzoNobel. Nouryon makes products such as chlorine, caustic soda, polymer additives, surfactants, and water treatment chemicals. The business recorded sales in 2017 of $6.2 billion and pretax profits of $850 million. The firm’s headquarters are in Amsterdam. Nouryon’s new CEO, Charles W. Shaver, was until recently CEO of U.S. coatings firm Axalta. He says he has no immediate plans to make major changes at Nouryon. The aim is to retain all 21 of the firm’s product lines and grow annual profits and sales by 4–5%, up from the current level of about 2%. This growth would occur through a combination of