Rankings | Europe’s Top Coating Companies: Revenue Exceeds RMB 75 Billion, Surpassing BASF and Jotun

Accordingly, Germany-based Brillux and Mankiewicz each rose one position. CIN successfully entered the top ten, with sales revenue increasing 12% year-on-year to €448 million—driven primarily by organic growth and the acquisition of Henkel Industrial Netherlands and Italy’s Proficolor retail network. Public records indicate: The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Porto, Portugal. It employs approximately 1,900 people across 15 countries and operates 11 manufacturing facilities in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Angola, and Mozambique. Its business spans four major market segments: residential and commercial construction, industrial coatings, corrosion protection, and marine & yacht coatings. Since 1995, it has been the market leader in the Iberian Peninsula, and its products are exported to multiple markets across Central Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Other companies’ rankings remained unchanged. Jotun ranked third, reporting €3.12 billion in coating sales revenue for 2025—a 4.7% increase year-on-year. Founded in 1926 and headquartered in Sandefjord, Norway, Jotun serves four core sectors—marine, protective, decorative, and powder coatings—with products sold in over 100 countries worldwide. In marine coatings, Jotun is the undisputed market leader. Its flagship SeaQuantum series utilizes an organosilicon system to form a low-surface-energy, smooth, and stable coating film that effectively inhibits marine biofouling—reducing ship hull drag and cutting fuel consumption by 5–8%, thereby lowering annual CO₂ emissions per vessel by over 200 tons. In June last year, Jotun launched HPS 2.0, its next-generation hull performance solution, which enhances vessel energy efficiency through four core modules. BASF retained second place, though its sales revenue declined 14% year-on-year to €3.7 billion—mainly due to raw material market volatility, trade barriers, and the completion on October 1, 2025, of its sale of the Brazilian Suvinil architectural coatings business to Sherwin-Williams. On June 30, 2026, BASF’s transaction with The Carlyle Group regarding its coatings business was formally completed, valued at €7.7 billion. The deal covers automotive OEM coatings, refinish coatings, and surface treatment businesses. BASF retains a 40% equity stake in the newly formed company, Sveco (formerly BASF Coatings). Despite a 5.2% year-on-year decline in sales revenue to €10.158 billion (approximately RMB 75.3 billion), AkzoNobel remains firmly in first place.

Coating Insights | Strategic Retreat or Full-Scale Contraction? After Exiting Southeast Asian Decorative Coatings, Can Axanzo Still Hold On to Its Automotive Refinish and Wood Coatings Businesses?

The largest ‘marriage of the century’ in the global coatings industry is now entering its most critical—and most grueling—regulatory review window. ‘Planned divestiture of automotive refinish coatings,’ ‘Remedial measures required by regulators for U.S. wood coatings, in addition to European automotive refinish coatings…’ Every statement made by AkzoNobel CEO Greg Poux-Guillaume on October 21 deepened the uncertainty facing ‘Axanzo.’ On October 15, AkzoNobel and Axalta jointly announced that their proposed merged entity would officially be named ‘Axanzo.’ This $25 billion parity merger aims to create a global coatings giant generating approximately $17 billion in annual revenue, with operations spanning over 160 countries. Though the crown is splendid, bearing its weight proves arduous. En route to ‘Axanzo,’ AkzoNobel and Axalta have undertaken intensive, high-profile ‘limb-cutting’ actions in capital markets and antitrust arenas. Early in October, AkzoNobel sold its decorative coatings business in Southeast Asia to Nippon Paint; mid-month reports indicated that regulatory approval for ‘Axanzo’ would face formidable hurdles in both the EU and the U.S., potentially forcing divestitures of powder coatings, automotive refinish coatings, and wood coatings. Having already lost its Southeast Asian decorative coatings business, will powder coatings, automotive refinish coatings, and wood coatings also slip away? After such painful asset sales, what will remain of Axanzo? NO.1 Proactive Divestitures to Pave the Way for Merger Ahead of the formation of ‘Axanzo,’ AkzoNobel agreed to sell its decorative coatings businesses across Southeast Asia and Australia to Japan’s Nippon Paint for a total transaction value of $1.35 billion (approximately RMB 9.052 billion). The deal encompasses the decorative coatings operations of brands including Dulux across seven core markets: Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, and Australia—marking the formal conclusion of AkzoNobel’s strategic review of its Asian decorative coatings portfolio. (For details, see: ‘Major Industry Reshuffle! Nippon Paint to Acquire AkzoNobel’s Decorative Coatings Business in Seven Southeast Asian Countries for RMB 9 Billion.’) Earlier still, AkzoNobel had divested its decorative coatings assets in India and Pakistan for $1.6 billion and €50 million, respectively. Yet, in AkzoNobel’s view, this sweeping ‘Asia asset exit’ was not mandated by antitrust regulators. Greg Poux-Guillaume explicitly stated that these were proactive strategic portfolio optimizations—designed to generate substantial net cash inflows and to concentrate the company’s full attention and resources on closing the merger with Axalta. These successive strategic exits across multiple countries may have substantially eroded AkzoNobel’s foundational presence in the high-growth decorative coatings market across the Asia-Pacific region. If selling decorative coatings represents a voluntary effort to ‘lighten the load and prepare for takeoff’ for the new company Axanzo, then what followed in Europe amounted to forced ‘amputation.’ NO.2 Automotive Refinish and Wood Coatings Forced Out Among the overlapping core businesses of the two giants, automotive refinish coatings have consistently drawn the closest scrutiny from global competition regulators.

Axalta falls short of estimates on higher raw material costs

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Axalta Coating Systems reported Q3 net income down 14% to $95 million, missing analyst estimates due to higher raw material and freight costs. The company also cut full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance while proceeding with its proposed merger with AkzoNobel.

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Axalta falls short of estimates on higher raw material costs

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