Shares were up slightly in early trading in Amsterdam after Akzo Nobel said it planned to return as much as 1.6 billion euros, or about $1.7 billion, to investors through dividends
and increased its financial guidance for 2020 as it outlined a plan to remain a stand-alone company.
Investors had a muted response to a strategy update on Wednesday from Akzo Nobel, the maker of Dulux paint, as the paint
and chemicals company from the Netherlands sought to stave off an unsolicited takeover bid, worth about $24 billion, from the American rival PPG Industries.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, continued to reap the benefits of the passive investing revolution in the first quarter of this
year as investors stuck to ditching actively managed mutual funds for cheaper exchange-traded funds that track a variety of indexes.
