TOKYO – Nippon Paint Holdings Co. said Friday it has ended talks on buying U.S. peer Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. after proposing a 1 trillion yen ($8.8 billion) all-cash acquisition.

Nippon Paint officials said they were far apart on the value of Axalta, while the U.S. firm, which ended different merger talks earlier in the month with Akzo Nobel NV of the Netherlands, said in a statement Thursday the Japanese company did not accept the price which Axalta saw as fair.

“Nippon Paint had informed Axalta that its board of directors was unwilling to meet our expectations regarding the value of the company and assume the financial leverage necessary for a deal of this size,” the U.S. company said in the statement.

Nippon Paint has been seeking to enhance its overseas operations as the matured domestic market has little room for growth.

Its bid for Axalta Coating Systems, known for its strength in auto coating, came after it acquired U.S. architectural paint manufacturer Dunn-Edwards Corp. in March.

“Following careful examination of circumstances surrounding both companies, we decided not to pursue the transaction,” Nippon Paint said in a statement.

The Japanese firm entered talks with Axalta Coating Systems after the U.S. firm said on Nov. 21 it had ended merger talks with Akzo Nobel.

An acquisition of Axalta would have been the largest such deal by a Japanese company this year, nearly doubling Nippon Paint’s sales and pushing its global market share a notch higher to fourth.

Axalta’s large share in the automotive coating market also raised concerns that Nippon Paint may face antitrust issues in some countries, the Nippon Paint officials said.