Dutch company snaps up Dulux paint maker ICI for £8 billion

Thousands of workers face an uncertain future after the boss of Akzo Nobel, which is buying ICI, warned them to expect redundancies.

"Yes, there will be job losses because there are overlaps, but we will do that in a responsible way," said Hans Wijers.

ICI employs 3,500 staff in the UK and 26,000 worldwide.

John McAdam, the chief of ICI, admitted the threat to jobs also weighed heavily on him, saying it was a "day of mixed feelings".

However, Mr McAdam could make up to £38million if, as expected, he quits when the deal is completed in November or December.

He is guaranteed to make £9.5million from his ICI shares and could get up to £16.65million more depending on how well he has performed over the last three years.

On top of that, any pay-off is likely to give him a year's salary - £1.3million - while his pension pot is worth £ 10.6million, entitling him to £590,000 a year on retirement.

Akzo is paying ICI shareholders 670p a share for the firm.

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It ends 81 years of independence for ICI, which is probably best known for making Dulux paint but has been at the forefront of many scientific and industrial advances.

It created Perspex, coined the word 'plastics', invented the first man-made antimalaria treatment and developed beta blockers for heart problems.

ICI joins a growing list of British companies to be snapped up by foreign firms.

Corus was sold to India's Tata Group for £5.75billion in February, the airport operator BAA went to Spain's Ferrovial for £10.3billion last June and O2 was bought by Telefonica, also of Spain, for £18billion.

Also in foreign hands are Abbey, Scottish Power, P&O and the brickmaker Hanson.