EU clears Plastics Omnium-Faurecia automotive deal

LONDON (ICIS)–The European Commission has cleared the planned acquisition of Faurecia’s automotive plastic exterior component business by Compagnie Plastic Omnium, subject to certain divestments, the body confirmed on Tuesday.

The commission said that as part of the clearance of the deal between the two France-based automotive parts firms, Plastic Omnium offered to divest key production facilities, thus addressing concerns that the transaction, as originally planned, would lead to price rises for plastic bumpers and other car components.

Plastic Omnium offered to divest five Faurecia plants mostly dedicated to the production of plastic bumpers – four in France, one in Spain. In addition, it committed to divesting two Faurecia plants dedicated to the assembly of front-end modules in Germany.

Plastic Omnium added that even after the divestments, representing about €700m/year in revenue, the acquisition would increase its revenue by about €1.2bn/year, mostly in Germany where the company did not have an auto exterior systems production presence.

“With this transaction, Plastic Omnium confirms its position as world leader in auto exterior systems, with its global market share reaching 15%,” it said.

The deal, with an enterprise value of €665m, is now expected to close on 29 July.

The automotive industry is a major global consumer of petrochemicals which contributes more than a third of the raw material costs of an average vehicle. ICIS tracks the movement of petrochemical raw material costs in auto production both globally and regionally with the weighted ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP).

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