euronext akza otcqx akzoy industry chemicals founded 1994 1994 headquarters amsterdam netherlands area served worldwide key people ton b chner ceo antony burgmans chairman of the supervisory board products basic and industrial chemicals decorative paints industrial re finishing products coatings revenue 14.9 billion 2015 1 operating income 1.6 billion 2015 1 profit 979 million 2015 1 total assets 16 billion end 2015 1 total equity 6.980 billion end 2015 1 number of employees 45 600 end 2015 1 website www.akzonobel.com akzo nobel n.v. trading as akzonobel is a dutch multinational company active in the fields of decorative paints performance coatings and specialty chemicals . headquartered in amsterdam the company has activities in more than 80 countries and employs approximately 46 000 people . sales in 2015 were eur 14.9 billion . 1 following the acquisition of ici the company has restructured on 2 january 2008 and rebranded itself on 25 april of the same year . contents 1 organization 1.1 decorative paints 1.2 performance coatings 1.3 specialty chemicals 2 history 2.1 akzo 1792 1994 group 2.1.1 akzo 1792 1969 original akzo companies 2.1.2 akzo 1969 1994 2.2 bofors 1646 1984 2.3 kemanobel 1841 1984 2.4 nobel industries 1984 1993 2.4.1 eka 1895 1986 2.4.2 sadolin & holmblad 1777 1987 2.4.3 berol kemi 1937 1988 2.4.4 crown berger 1770 1990 entered nobel industries 1990 2.5 akzo nobel 1994 2007 2008 2.5.1 fibres 2.5.2 pharma 2.5.3 chemical group 2.5.4 coatings 2.5.5 corporate 2.6 imperial chemicals industries ici 1926 2007 2008 2.7 akzonobel 2008 and later 3 expancel 4 turn over and profit history 5 see also 6 references 7 external links organization edit company headquarters in amsterdam akzonobel consists of 10 business units with business responsibility and autonomy . for managerial purpose these cooperate in three groups which are supported by one managerial board . currently a seven member strong executive committee exco was established which is composed of two members of the board of management bom and five leaders with functional expertise allowing both the functions and the business areas to be represented at the highest levels in the company . the exco includes chairman and ceo ton b chner cfo ma lys castella marten booisma responsible for human resources sven dumoulin general counsel werner fuhrmann responsible for specialty chemicals ruud joosten responsible for decorative paints and conrad keijzer responsible for performance coatings . the board holds office in amsterdam . prior to august 2007 the executive committee was headquartered in arnhem . due to high revenues from the sales of its pharmaceutical business akzonobel was the world s most profitable company in 2008 . 2 decorative paints edit this part of the business is mostly geographically organized europe middle east and africa latin america asia akzonobel markets their products under various brandnames such as dulux bruguer tintas coral hammerite herbol sico sikkens international interpon casco nordsj sadolin cuprinol taubmans lesonal levis glidden flood flora vivexrom marshall and pinotex among others . these products were used on london s millennium wheel la scala opera house in milan the resund bridge between denmark and sweden the beijing national stadium airbus a380 and stadium australia in sydney . citation needed performance coatings edit akzonobel is a leading coatings company whose key products include automotive coatings specialized equipment for the car repair and transportation market and marine coatings . the coatings groups consist of the following business units 1 marine and protective coatings automotive and specialty coatings industrial and powder coatings specialty chemicals edit the chemicals group now consists of four business units . 1 functional chemicals fc industrial chemicals ic before 1 january 2009 known as base chemicals bc pulp and performance chemicals under brand name eka ppc surface chemistry sc the divestment of the former business unit of chemicals pakistan was completed in q4 2012 . as chemicals producer akzonobel is a world leading salt specialist chloralkali products and other industrial chemicals . ultimately akzonobel products are found in everyday items such as paper ice cream bakery goods cosmetics plastics and glass . each business unit has an annual turnover of approx eur 1.000 1.900 million . 3 history edit akzonobel has a long history of mergers and divestments . parts of the current company can be traced back to 17th century companies . 4 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 . akzo 1792 1994 group edit akzo 1792 1969 original akzo companies edit 1887 zwanenberg pharmaceuticals laboratory in oss 1923 organon pharmaceuticals company founded by saal van zwanenberg in oss 1838 noury & van der lande oils and oatmeal company in deventer 1886 kortman and schulte a chemicals and soda factory was founded by constant kortman and herman schulte in rotterdam 1947 merger of zwanenberg and organon to zwanenberg organon renamed in 1953 koninklijke zwanenburg organon kzo 1965 take over of kortman and schulte and merger of noury & van der lande with koninklijke zwanenburg organon 1792 sikkens lakken lacquers manufacturer founded by wiert willem sikkens in groningen the netherlands 1835 ketjen sulfuric acid producer founded by gerhard tileman ketjen in amsterdam 1918 nederlandse zoutindustrie knz nezo salt producer in boekelo 1962 merger of koninklijke nederlandse zoutindustrie and ketjen to koninklijke zout ketjen . sikkens joints the merger 1967 merger koninklijke zout ketjen and koninklijke zwanenberg organon to koninklijke zout organon kzo 1899 vereinigte glanzstoff fabriken fiber producer in oberbruch heinsberg germany 1911 eerste nederlandse kunstzijdefabriek arnhem rayon artificial silk company founded by jacques coenraad hartogs in arnhem . later renamed nederlandse kunstzijdefabriek enka 1928 de internationale spinpot exploitatie maatschappij isem 5 manufacturer of spinning devices . enka s rayon spinning machines continually breakdown . its director jacques coenraad hartogs nl turns to netherlands electrical pioneer and friend rento hofstede crull nl 6 for a solution . to manufacture the spinning pot one of hofstede crull s companies de vijf and jacques coenraad hartogs nederlandse kunstzijdefabriek form a joint venture isem . the profit of this joint venture allowed the nederlandse kunstzijdefabriek to establish subsidiaries in the united states the american enka company for example as a means of also circumventing trade protectionism . 7 1929 merger of vereinigte glanzstoff fabriken with nederlandse kunstzijdefabriek forming algemene kunstzijde unie aku 1938 integration of isem after hofstede crull s death with the aku 1921 armour and company us slaughtering industry starts fatty acid factory in chicago . 8 1949 armour industrial chemical co. opens world s first commercial fatty amine plant in mccook illinois usa . akzo 1969 1994 edit 1969 the aku and the koninklijke zout organon kzo merge forming akzo . 1970 acquires chemical activities of armour and co. 1985 acquires levis paints belgium 1987 acquires specialty chemicals division of stauffer . 1992 divest polyamides and polyesters plastics engineering business to dsm . 1993 forms the 50 50 % joint venture akcros chemicals together with harrisons chemicals uk ltd. harcros a subsidiary of harrisons & crosfield . 1994 merges with nobel industries forming akzo nobel . the new akzo nobel has 20 business entities . bofors 1646 1984 edit 1646 bofors swedish weapons manufacturer is founded in karlskoga . 1893 bofors becomes a company majority owned by alfred nobel . 1984 bofors acquires kemanobel . kemanobel 1841 1984 edit from stockholms superfosfat fabriks fosfatbolaget kemanord to kemanobel 1841 liljeholmens stearinfabrik stearin candles factory founded by lars johan hierta also the founder of the swedish newspaper aftonbladet in stockholm sweden . 1871 stockholms superfosfat fabrik superphosphate factory is founded by oscar f. carlson with help from lars johan hierta in g ddviken nacka outside stockholm . 1931 stockholms superfosfat fabriks ends its swedish superphosphate production and a new potassium nitrate factory opens a year later in ljungaverk . 1941 begins swedish production of carbide and calcium nitrate at a new plant in stockvik . 1944 begins making plastics and starts trial production of synthetic rubber . 1945 opens a pvc plant at stockvik . 1947 acquires liljeholmens stearinfabrik . 1964 stockholms superfosfat fabriks becomes fosfatbolaget . 1970 liljeholmens stearinfabriks candle production moves to oscarshamn . 1868 barn ngen tekniska fabrik ab soap factory at bondegatan on s dermalm in stockholm . 1874 kemanord chemical company was founded by alfred nobel in stockholm . 1928 casco sv adhesives factory producing of casein glue founded by lars amundsen nephew of roald amundsen the first person at the south pole with help from marcus wallenberg in kristinehamn 1935 casco forms subsidiary in norway . 1946 forms subsidiary in denmark . 1970 forms subsidiary in finland taken over by kemanord 1970 kemanord acquires liljeholmens stearinfabriks chemicals business barn ngen tekniska fabrik and casco . fosfatbolaget changes its name to kemanord . liljeholmens stearinfabriks chemicals businesst becomes a division within kemanord kemanord specialty chemicals . 1972 paper chemicals business is combined into one paper chemicals product group within kemanord specialty chemicals . 1973 cascogard a product group within casco joins kemanord specialty chemicals . cascogard develops into the production of agricultural chemicals such as weed killers insecticides and fungicides . 1863 nitroglycerin stearin candles factory is founded by alfred nobel in stockholm . 1965 nitroglycerin becomes nitro nobel . 1978 kemanord acquires swedish civil explosives chemical group nitro nobel and changes its name to kemanobel . the specialty chemicals division kemanord specialty chemicals changes its name to kenogard . at that time kenogard produces organic specialty chemicals for plant and wood protection disinfection and hygiene paper production plastics production oil production road construction fertilizer production and mineral purification . 1978 kemanobel barn ngen tekniska fabrik acquires liljeholmens stearinfabrik . 1979 casco began cooperation with norwegian adhesives and explosives group dyno industries regarding particleboard resin . 1981 acquires swedish electronics group pharos from aga . 1982 acquires swedish paints group nordsj in malm . 1983 combines the food systems groups of kenogard and kema nobel to form probel . probel produces specialty chemicals and systems for agriculture food and technical industries . probel is in turn divided into two areas kenogard for plant and wood protection and surfactants for initiators detergents anti caking and scanroad . 1984 casco formed subsidiary in singapore which later opens offices in malaysia 1989 thailand 1990 indonesia 1991 the philippines 1991 the people s republic of china 1993 hong kong 1994 and vietnam 1994 . 1984 bofors acquires kemanobel . nobel industries 1984 1993 edit both bofors and kemanobel have historic ties to alfred nobel the 19th century swedish inventor whose invention of dynamite gave a safe way to manage the detonation of nitroglycerin . 1984 bofors acquires the majority shareholding in kemanobel 1985 bofors integrates the entire kemanobel group and changes its name to nobel industries . probel becomes nobel biotech within kemanobel specialty chemicals . kenogard specialty chemicals became kenobel . 1986 divests business civil explosives nitro nobel . 1986 acquires swedish paper and pulp group eka ab which becomes a business area eka nobel . as a result eka becomes a major sodium chlorate producer and expanded its operations to north america . 1988 acquires berol kemi swedish surface chemistry group from procordia and merges it with kenobel to form a new business area berol nobel . 1988 merge with the two swedish holding companies investment ab asken and investment ab d. carnegie . eka nobel 1990 eka nobel acquires alby klorat and stora kemi from swedish forest group stora kopparberg albright and wilson s paper chemicals division starts joint venture in india viz . arjun chemicals and makes heavy investments in new plants . eka runs production in 14 countries around the world . lignox a patented hydrogen peroxide bleaching process is introduced . 1991 eka s j.v in india arjun chemicals started the production with fortified rosin soaps intended for the application paper industry . 1991 eka nobel s starts hydrogen peroxide production in venezuela . casco nobel 1987 acquires the majority