AkzoNobel and Axalta Coating Systems filed commitments with the European Commission on 15 October for their roughly $25 billion merger. The case is M.12269. The filing automatically added ten working days to the preliminary review, to 6 November. Brussels has not published the package, as is its habit. This is not a clearance.

Reuters, citing sources, wrote last week that the firms would sell AkzoNobel’s vehicle-refinish business to ease competition worries. PCI Magazine notes that the two companies have not publicly confirmed that those assets sit in the envelope. The Commission is expected to ask rivals and customers, then may clear the deal, demand more, or open a full investigation.

The merger agreement dates from 18 November 2025, with amendments in May and July 2026. After closing, Axalta’s shareholders would hold about 45 per cent, AkzoNobel’s about 55 per cent. Dual headquarters: Amsterdam and Philadelphia; corporate seat and tax residence, the Netherlands. On 15 October the two announced the name Axanzo and the ticker AXZ. Their expectation: close in early 2027, if regulators and the other conditions hold.

In Romania, AkzoNobel Coatings has a plant at Popești-Leordeni, on Olteniței, with decorative brands — Savana, APLA, Sadolin. Economedia described it in 2025. We do not have, from Brussels, a sign that that plant is in the divestment package. House paint is not, automatically, body-shop paint. Axalta is present here mainly through the refinish network, not through a factory named in the same texts.

Bloomberg Law, also on sources, wrote on 8 October that the first worries over powder coatings had been dropped, and that the sell-offs would target refinish overlap. The Commission declined to comment. Until a decision is out, powder and body-shop paint remain two files, not a verdict.

AkzoNobel is listed in Amsterdam, Axalta in the United States. BASF Coatings, Nippon Paint, Sherwin-Williams and Kansai Nerolac appear, in Reuters, as rivals. Until 6 November the two run separately. Profit.ro, the ledger track, sits behind a 403 wall; the facts held here are Reuters, PCI and the official description of the concentration.

Image: Ceescamel, AkzoNobel headquarters, 29 May 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not the Brussels hearing room.

Sources consulted: AkzoNobel, Axalta offer remedies in bid for EU approval for $25 billion deal — Reuters / MarketScreener; AkzoNobel, Axalta Offer EU Remedies for $25B Merger — PCI Magazine.