Japanese Firm Makes Offer for Sun Chemical

Sun Chemical Corp. said Tuesday that it had received an unsolicited $600.6-million buy-out offer from a Japanese company and would present the proposal to Sun’s board of directors today.

Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Inc. of Japan in a letter to Sun Chemical offered to pay $77 in cash for each of the company’s 7.8 million outstanding shares or to buy Sun’s graphic arts materials group for $425 million, Sun said in a news release.

Sun Chemical said the letter from Dainippon indicated that the offer was contingent on negotiation of a mutually satisfactory acquisition agreement.

The offer was to be presented to the Sun board of directors at a regularly scheduled board meeting today.

Sun Chemicals, a leading maker of graphic equipment, printing inks, specialty chemicals, and automotive and aircraft parts, had revenue of $883.9 million in 1985. The graphic arts materials group accounted for about 63% of the total revenue.

Dainippon on Monday had proposed to pay $75 in cash per share for Sun Chemical, or $425 million for the graphic arts materials group, but the proposal was not regarded as a firm offer, according to Linda Kyriakou, a Sun spokeswoman.

Chairman Norman E. Alexander said in the news release that both offers were personally unacceptable to him, but he did not elaborate.

Alexander purchased about 11.4% of the company’s outstanding stock on Monday, bringing his stake to 44.6%, before Sun disclosed the initial offer from Dainippon on Monday.

Sun stock on Monday rose $5 a share to close at $65.25 on the New York Stock Exchange following the announcement.

On Tuesday, Sun Chemicals fell $1.25 a share to close at $64.