AKZO NOBEL DECORATIVE COATINGS EXPANDS OPERATIONS IN NORTH AMERICA
Troy, Mich., January 20, 2003 – The Decorative Coatings North America (DCNA), a business unit of Akzo Nobel, has assumed direct responsibility for North American marketing and manufacturing of the company’s SyntekoTM brand of high-end, wood floor coatings and established separate Profit Centers for Synteko and its longstanding SikkensTM brand of wood care products, effective Jan. 1, 2003.

“With the addition of Synteko to DCNA, we have re-organized into two Profit Centers to ensure that we maintain the momentum we’ve built for our Sikkens brand, while making certain that Synteko receives the attention necessary for its growth,” said Theo Bouwens, general manager, DCNA.

“Our goal is to grow our Decorative Coatings business by intensifying our focus and allocating greater marketing, sales and distribution resources to support the two brands,” Bouwens said. “Synteko is an excellent fit with our Sikkens brand because both lines occupy the premium end of their product categories, which offers us outstanding synergies to expand our customer relationships.”

DCNA has named Antonio Leandres and Gerry Koutavas Profit Center Managers for the Synteko and Sikkens brands, respectively. They are responsible for sales, sales support, technical support and marketing for their brands.

Akzo Nobel has sold Synteko products in North America through an independent distributor for more than 20 years.

“Now that we have direct control of all aspects of Synteko, we can ensure its continued growth through dedicated management of the brand,” Leandres said. “A key element of our brand strategy is intensifying the ‘Exceptional Floor Finishes’ awareness campaign, which we introduced last year. Enhancing awareness of the Synteko brand is crucial to our success, and supports our aggressive expansion of our distribution network.”

DCNA launched its “Simply Beautiful” Sikkens brand awareness campaign last year, which includes new graphics, point-of-purchase displays, dealer and consumer literature, and advertising.

“We are looking forward to further developing the successful Sikkens ‘Simply Beautiful’ campaign and continuing to build awareness for the Sikkens brand,” Koutavas said. “The Profit Center approach ensures that we will be able to maintain our focus on this vital goal.”

Akzo Nobel, based in The Netherlands, serves customers throughout the world with healthcare products, coatings and chemicals. Consolidated sales for 2001 totaled EUR 14 billion. The Company currently employs over 66,000 people in 80 countries.