History

The origins of the business lie in the history of paint making in Darwen

Darwen

Darwen is a market town and civil parish located within Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area...

 which can be traced back to the late 1850s. It initially traded as WalPaMur after the initials of The Wall Paper Manufacturers' Company. The Company was independent for over a century before, as Crown Berger, it was taken over by Williams Holdings

Williams Holdings

Williams Holdings was a major British conglomerate. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...

 in 1987 and then by Akzo Nobel

Akzo Nobel

Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people. Sales in 2010 were EUR...

 in 1990.

It was sold in a management buyout

Management buyout

A management buyout is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company.- Overview :Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company...

 backed by the private equity

Private equity

Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

 firm Endless in 2008, in a deal to satisfy the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

's concerns of a possible monopoly

Monopoly

A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...

 after Akzo Nobel's takeover of ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

.

Having sponsored Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

 from 1982 to 1988, the firm most recently sponsored Premier League Football team Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....

between 2008 and 2011.

Crown Paints were shortlisted for both the Environmental Best Practice Award and the Carbon Management Award at the Lancashire Business Environment Awards 2010.

10 June 2011 Crown Paints were acquired by Danish paints manufacturer Hempel A/S..