Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners Ukraine has assisted a global chemicals company Kemira Oyj with obtaining merger clearance with the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine(the "AMCU") for the acquisition of the paper chemical business of AkzoNobel, the largest global paints and coatings company. The transaction was closed on May 4, 2015, after obtaining the approval from the AMCU. The deal was first announced on July 8, 2014. The value of the transaction is EUR 153 million.

As the result of the transaction, six of the AkzoNobel paper chemicals manufacturing sites and approximately 350 employees have been transferred to Kemira.

 Kemira has also increased the production capacity of its own paper chemical manufacturing sites in order to realize expected production synergies.

The integration period of the transaction is expected to last approximately two years and result in EUR 15 million net synergies on an annualized basis.

The production sites transferred to Kemira are located in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Spain and Italy.

Kemira Oyj is a global chemicals company serving customers in water-intensive industries. The company’s focus is on pulp & paper, oil & gas, mining and water treatment. In 2014, Kemira had annual revenue of EUR 2.1 billion and around 4,250 employees. Kemira shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd.

AkzoNobel is a leading global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, AkzoNobel has approximately 46,000 people in around 80 countries, while its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Dulux, Sikkens, International, Interpon and Eka.

EPAP's Ukraine competition team was led by Partner Oksana Ilchenko and comprised Counsel Oleg Boichuk, Associates Oksana Franko and Nadiia Dmytrenko, and Junior Associate Rostyslav Zeleniuk.