Kansai Paint : HELIOS completed its acquisition of the global Railway Coatings business assets from Becker Industrie SAS ~ Paint Group to expand European business~

KANSAI HELIOS, with its holding company in Austria, provides a wide range of coatings, including industrial coatings, throughout Europe, and beyond. KANSAI HELIOS owns two brands for railway coatings, Rembrandtin and Helios, and has achieved a solid market position in Europe. In addition, KANSAI HELIOS Wefa GmbH, which was established in Germany following the acquisition of the German coating manufacturer Westdeutsche Farben GmbH in August 2022, with its brand "Wefa" expands the KANSAI HELIOS railroad coatings range.
Beckers Group is the number one supplier of coil coatings and a leading supplier of industrial paint worldwide, founded in 1865, with production in 23 locations in 17 countries and sales in 60 countries.
By taking over the Beckers' business, since which has a strong position and high technological capabilities in railway coatings in France and neighboring countries, we will be able to enter new markets such as France and further strengthen our competitiveness in the industrial field, including railway coatings, in Europe and worldwide.

Kansai Paint Group has set "aggressive investment in growing market" as one of the key principles in the 17th Medium-term Management Plan, which started in April 2022. We will expand overseas businesses by reinforcing our strengths, mainly in Europe and India, and promoting small- and medium-sized M&A within the ¥20 billion framework with the aim of having them complement each other mutually. In addition to this transaction, we announced the completion to acquire railway business assets of wefa in Germany in August 2022, and the completion to acquire of shares of a powder coating business company CWS Lackfabrik GmbH in Europe and USA in February 2023.

In order to promote our group strategy of "shifting to B to B business" and "strengthening focused businesses and fields such as India and Europe", we will continue to pursue not only small and medium-sized M&A that will optimize our business portfolio, but also explore the possibility of large-sized M&A.

■Related News Release
・December 16^th, 2022 - Kansai Paint Group to expand European business
KANSAI HELIOS acquires The Railway Coatings business assets
https://www.kansai.com/news/press22/publicrelationsnewsarticle.html-3

・February 2^nd, 2023 - KANSAI HELIOS completed its acquisition of CWS
~Increase market position in the field of Powder Coatings and Synthetic Resins~
https://www.kansai.com/news/press23/publicrelationsnewsarticle.html-0

■Related Documents
・November 17^th, 2021 - Strategy Briefings
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■Summary of Kansai Paint
Company name : Kansai Paint Co.,Ltd
Head Office : 6-14, Imabashi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka 541-8523, Japan
Name of representative: MORI Kunishi, Representative Director of the Board, President
Date Established : May 17, 1918
Outline of Operations :
・Manufacturing and sale of paints and coatings
・Color design
・Manufacturing and sale of biorelated products and electronic materials related products
Corporate website : https://www.kansai.com

■About KANSAI HELIOS
Company name : Kansai Helios Coatings GmbH
Head Office : Ignaz-Kock-Strasse 15 1210 Vienna, Austria
Name of representative: Dietmar JOST
Date Established : November 19, 2005
Outline of Operations :
Holding company of companies manufacturing paints and coatings, synthetic resins, adhesives and starches and other chemical products
Main Shareholders and holding ratio : Kansai Paint Co.,Ltd. 80%
Corporate website : https://www.kansai-helios.eu/

■About the Kansai Paint Group
For more than a century since its establishment in 1918, the Kansai Paint Group has been providing technologies cultivated in the paint and coatings business.
Under the mission statement―" We leverage superior technology to contribute to our Customers and Society in a sustainable manner, with innovative Products and Services, through a competent workforce, built on a culture of Customer focus, Integrity, and Respect to our Stakeholders.", We will contribute to the global environment and the world and aim to be a Great company that continues to grow sustainably.