EC approves INEOS/Lanxess ABS plastics deal

10 August 2007 14:17 [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--The European Commission (EC) has cleared the planned acquisition by INEOS of the thermoplastic engineering business of Lanxess, it said on Friday.

INEOS and Lanxess announced in June that INEOS would take a majority stake in Lanxess' Lustran acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastics business.

The EC’s investigation found that the transaction would not hinder competition in the European Economic Area (EEA), it said.

INEOS does not produce ABS, although it was a producer of two other thermoplastic resins, polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the EC said.

However, even with a very wide market definition that included ABS, high impact general purpose polystyrene (PS) resins, modified PP resins, PVC resins and polycarbonate (PC), the companies’ combined share would not exceed 15% at both EEA and worldwide levels, the EC said.

In terms of vertical markets, INEOS was active in acrylonitrile (ACN), butadiene and styrene, which are upstream of engineering thermoplastic resins.

However, those markets were competitive and the combined INEOS/Lanxess thermoplastic engineering business would not have a significant market share in any of the possible downstream markets for engineering thermoplastic resins, the EC said.

Also, engineering thermoplastic resins accounted for only a limited portion of the sales of styrene, it added.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

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