History
The firm's first products were developed in Germany in 1866 to protect carriages from the gravel of dirt roads. In 1920, the company created a quick-drying, multi-color lacquer line for automotive painting.[4] Operating as Herberts Gmbh, the company grew under Kurt Herberts,[5] introducing the popular automobile finish Standox in 1955.[6]
In 1999 Herberts merged with DuPont Automotive Finishes,[7] a transport coating systems technology company that had been started in 1922 in Wilmington, Delaware, to form DPC. In 2012, the private equity firm The Carlyle Group announced its plans to purchase and discontinue DPC.[8] The Carlyle Group completed the sale in February 2013 and founded Axalta.[9] On November 12, 2014, the firm completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: AXTA).[10]
On January 21, 2015, Axalta and Chinese industrial coatings firm Shanghai Kinlita Chemical formed a partnership to operate in China.[11] In April 2015, Berkshire Hathaway invested $560 million in Axalta Coating Systems.[12] In July 2016, the firm acquired United Paint and Chemical Corp.'s automotive interior coatings business.[13]
The company currently operates in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.[14] The activities for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region (EMEA) are based in Basel, Switzerland.[15] On November 7, 2018, the company held its grand opening of a new research and development center located at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard known as the Global Innovation Center. Axalta's Global Innovation Center is the largest coatings research and development (R&D) center in the world.[16]
In 1953 Axalta predecessor DuPont published the first annual Color Popularity Report, the first in the industry to have extensive global data in one report. The firm developed L,a,b color equations, an important component of modern color science. It introduced the first waterborne electrical steel coating in the industry in the 1960s.[4]
In October 2017, AkzoNobel approached competitor Axalta Coating Systems over a potential combination.[17] Nippon Paint Holdings Co. attempted to buy the company in November 2017, but the deal failed to reach an agreement.[18]
In July 2021, Axalta acquired U-POL, a Northamptonshire based manufacturer and distributor of fillers, coatings and aerosols,[19] from Graphite Capital.[20]
On August 17, 2021 Berkshire Hathaway sold its entire stake in Axalta Coating Systems.[21]
In November 2025 it was announced that Axalta would merge with AkzoNobel.[22][23]
