US-based private equity firm Carlyle Group has ageed to buy AkzoNobel’s specialty chemicals arm for €10.1bn, the Dutch firm said on Tuesday. Singapore’s sovereign investmment fund GIC is to provide part of the funding for the acquisition which will be completed this year.

AkzoNobel will receive a cash payment of €8.9bn with net proceeds expected to be around €7.5bn. The vast majority of net proceeds will be distributed to shareholders, AkzoNobel said.

Carlyle, which is based in Washington DC, beat several rivals bidding for the Akzo unit, including Apollo Global Management, Advent International/Bain Capital and HAL Investments of Rotterdam.

The sale of Akzo’s chemicals unit was partly forced by the fiercely hostile takeover attempt staged last year by US rival PPG Industries and activist shareholders like Elliott.

The split between AkzoNobel’s larger paints and coatings businesses and the chemicals unit was completed last month. This cleared the way to sell the smaller division and ward off hostile takeover attempts for the group as a whole.