Paint Giant Agrees to Buy Duron

Sherwin-Williams Aims At Professional Market

Sherwin-Williams Co., the nation's largest paint manufacturer, said it agreed to buy Beltsville-based Duron Inc. for $235 million in cash.

Privately held Duron, founded in the District in 1949, is the third-largest paint-maker with sales of $350 million last year. The company employs 1,800, most in 231 retail stores in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams said it doesn't plan to cut jobs, and the Duron stores will continue to operate under that name. The purchase requires approval from the federal government.

The paint industry has been consolidating for decades; Sherwin-Williams bought a company in both 2001 and 2002.

Robert Feinberg, Duron's chairman, chief executive and son of the founder, made no secret of his desire to sell the family-owned company as he neared retirement. The 64-year-old art collector, who lives in Bethesda, has no children.

"He believed it was time to exit the business," said Gary Saiter, Duron's marketing director. "This was his succession plan."

Sherwin-Williams, whose paints include the Dutch Boy line, said it would begin using Duron's manufacturing plants in Beltsville and Atlanta. Both will continue to make Duron colors, too, Sherwin-Williams spokesman Conway Ivy said.

Duron's paints, which have coated the White House and the Pentagon, are known for being sturdy, easily applied and relatively inexpensive. The company sells about 95 percent of its paints to professionals, from home builders to property managers.

"They are not known for their color palette," said William Thornton, who owns two independent paint stores in Northern Virginia. But Duron's "white shell," one of its best-selling colors, "is probably the most popular color in new-home construction in this area," he said.

With the addition of Duron's stores, Sherwin-Williams would operate more than 2,900 nationwide. The company already sells 50 percent more paint by volume than its next biggest competitor, Home Depot Inc., said Barbara Allen, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder, a brokerage in New York. It had sales of $5.4 billion last year.