AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - PPG Industries (N:PPG) remains interested in negotiating a "consensual" deal with Akzo Nobel (AS:AKZO), even as the Dutch rival paint maker resists its 26.3 billion euro ($29.5 billion) takeover offer, PPG's top executive said on Tuesday.
PPG Chief Executive Michael McGarry, who was in the Netherlands for a shareholder lawsuit against Akzo a day earlier, told journalists he had never before seen such hostility between a company and its shareholders.
But McGarry said "PPG remains very interested in pursuing a privately negotiated, substantive deal with Akzo Nobel."
On Monday, several major Akzo shareholders led by activist hedge fund Elliott Advisors, filed a lawsuit against the company over the refusal by Akzo's management to enter talks.
PPG is in discussions with Dutch market regulator AFM about extending by up to two weeks a June 1 deadline to submit a formal bid for Akzo while it awaits the court's decision, most likely on May 29.
McGarry said that financing of a possible deal "is not an issue. We will have all the financing we need on whatever the appropriate date is," he said.
Shares in Akzo traded 1 percent higher at 76.47 euros at 0830 GMT on Tuesday, well below PPG's 96.75 euros per share bid proposal made on April 20, suggesting investors are skeptical a PPG offer will ultimately succeed.
Akzo has argued a PPG takeover would be bad for employees, that the companies' cultures don't mesh, that a deal faces antitrust risks, that it would be bad for the environment and that Akzo should stay Dutch in the country's national interest.