Akzo Nobel to Close Five German Offices in Streamlining Move

Akzo Nobel has said it will close five of its eight corporate offices in Germany by summer 2014 as part of a streamlining scheme that foresees divestment of its Building Adhesives business unit and the German retail facilities of its Decorative Paints unit.

Offices in Börnsen, Düren, Essen, Hanover and Ludwigsburg will be closed and the German headquarters moved to a new site in Cologne. Sales offices serving the northern and southern parts of the country will be consolidated in Hamburg and Stuttgart.

Altogether, the closures will reduce the German workforce by more than 25% to around 2,600, the Dutch paints and coatings producer said, noting that "this highly fragmented footprint" is the result of mergers and acquisitions. In August, said it would sell the building adhesives business to Swiss-based Sika. Nearly two-thirds of the unit's 550 jobs are based in Germany.

"By bringing office-based management and supporting staff together in fewer locations and better aligning them with the needs of our businesses in Germany, we aim to improve our operational effectiveness as well as lowering overheads," said executive committee member Werner Fuhrmann. The need to further streamline the company's organizational structure in the neighboring country "has become increasingly clear in light of recent developments," he added.