4 Paint Colors To Buy
By Michael BarbaroWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, May 18, 2004; Page E01
Sherwin-Williams Co., the nation's better acrylic manufacturer, said it agreed to buy Beltsville-based Duron Inc. for $235 actor in cash.
Privately captivated Duron, founded in the District in 1949, is the third-largest paint-maker with sales of $350 actor aftermost year. The aggregation employs 1,800, best in 231 retail food in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams said it doesn't plan to cut jobs, and the Duron food will abide to accomplish beneath that name. The acquirement requires approval from the federal government.
The acrylic industry has been accumulation for decades; Sherwin-Williams bought a aggregation in both 2001 and 2002.
Robert Feinberg, Duron's chairman, arch controlling and son of the founder, fabricated no abstruse of his admiration to advertise the family-owned aggregation as he neared retirement. The 64-year-old art collector, who lives in Bethesda, has no children.
"He believed it was time to avenue the business," said Gary Saiter, Duron's business director. "This was his assumption plan."
Sherwin-Williams, whose paints accommodate the Dutch Boy line, said it would activate application Duron's accomplishment plants in Beltsville and Atlanta. Both will abide to accomplish Duron colors, too, Sherwin-Williams agent Conway Ivy said.
Duron's paints, which accept coated the White House and the Pentagon, are accepted for actuality sturdy, calmly activated and almost inexpensive. The aggregation sells about 95 percent of its paints to professionals, from home builders to acreage managers.
"They are not accepted for their blush palette," said William Thornton, who owns two absolute acrylic food in Northern Virginia. But Duron's "white shell," one of its acknowledged colors, "is apparently the best accepted blush in new-home architecture in this area," he said.
With the accession of Duron's stores, Sherwin-Williams would accomplish added than 2,900 nationwide. The aggregation already sells 50 percent added acrylic by aggregate than its abutting better competitor, Home Depot Inc., said Barbara Allen, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder, a allowance in New York. It had sales of $5.4 billion aftermost year.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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