THE FATE of hundreds of Slough jobs still hangs in the balance after Dutch company AkzoNobel rejected a second hostile bid from American firm PPG.

The latest bid of about £19.7 billion was lodged on Monday following a failed offer believed to have been in the region of £18 billion on Thursday, March 9.

AkzoNobel owns Dulux and has more than 750 employees across its own UK headquarters in Wexham Road, Slough, and at the paint specialist's academy and headquarters in the same facility.

In a damning statement, AkzoNobel said the proposal from PPG Industries Inc. - itself a paint company - "fails to recognise the value of AkzoNobel and neglects to address significant risks and uncertainties, including extensive anti-trust concerns" and had not addressed concerns expressed when the first bid was turned down.

The company said the bid had been "thoroughly reviewed" by the management board, supervisory board, and financial and legal advisors.

Ton Büchner, chief executive of AkzoNobel, said: “This proposal significantly fails to recognize the value of AkzoNobel. Our Boards do not believe it is in the best interest of AkzoNobel’s stakeholders, including our shareholders, customers and employees. That is why we have rejected it unanimously.

“We are convinced that AkzoNobel is best placed to unlock the value within our company ourselves. We are executing our plan, including the creation of two focused businesses and new cost structure, and believe this gives us a strong platform for continued profitability and long term value creation for all our stakeholders with substantially less execution risks.”

In a list outlining the reasons for the rejection, the Dutch company cites "significant job cuts", "the significant culture gap between both companies", "fundamental stakeholder concerns and uncertainties" and "the significant risk and uncertainty, including timing, of deal completion due to extensive anti-trust concerns".

The statement concludes: "The unsolicited proposal does not warrant AkzoNobel’s engagement with PPG. The Boards unanimously reject PPG's revised proposal."

The battle is not over however.

In the wake of the rejection, Michael McGarry, chairman and CEO of PPG, said: "We look forward to the opportunity to engage in dialogue with AkzoNobel leadership, members of to further discuss the merits of this revised proposal, negotiate a transaction and work together towards an agreement on mutually acceptable terms.

"We are respectful of the questions and concerns that have been raised and look forward to addressing these in a collaborative manner."