AKZO PLANNING US INVESTMENTS

  Dutch chemicals group Akzo
  NV &lt;AKZO.AS> said it hoped to consolidate its core activities
  this year by making small acquisitions in the US.
     Akzo chairman Aarnoud Loudon told a news conference on its
  1986 report that the company wanted to achieve the same level
  of US investments it had before it divested its fibre firm
  American Enka in December 1985, when US investments represented
  20 pct of Akzo's total capital.
     The US expansion plans were not an attempt to compensate for
  losses in guilder income through the lower dollar, Loudon said.
      He said a more important factor was the speed of growth in
  the US, adding "It's the largest industrial market in the world."
  But he said the company would also be looking at possible
  acquisitions in Europe.
      Despite its highly liquid cash flow, Akzo did not plan
  acquisitions on a scale that would negatively influence the
  company's debt/equity ratio, Loudon said.
     The chairman said in the past two years Akzo had spent 1.1
  billion guilders on acquisitions, of which nearly two thirds
  were in the United States.
  REUTER...
  

