Dutch chemical group Akzo Nobel announced that on September 7, it will ask shareholders to approve a plan to split the company into two. Akzo Nobel will focus on coatings and chemicals and Organon BioSciences will work on developing the pharmaceutical product pipeline. The company had already planned to spin off Organon and hopes the company will go public early next year. A lot of the new company's success will rest on the result of Organon's Asenapine, an anti-depressant drug currently in Phase III testing. However, it seems that Akzo Nobel will go ahead with the split regardless of the outcome of the trial. "The strategic decision has been taken to separate the company into a chemicals and coatings unit, and a pharmaceuticals unit, and this process will continue," stated Keith Nichols, Akzo Nobel's senior vice president of finance.
- for more, read this AP report