TAGS: Automotive Electrical & Electronics
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of DuPont's Mobility and Materials Business by Celanese.
The approval is conditional on full compliance with commitments offered by Celanese.
Removing Competition Concerns for TPC
Executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “
Celanese and Dupont's Mobility and Materials business compete head-to-head in the supply of thermoplastic copolyester, an essential input for the automobile sector. With their transaction, they would have a combined leading position in the market with only a few alternative suppliers. The commitments offered by Celanese, divesting a stand-alone business, fully remove our competition concerns as they ensure that a player will remain in the market.”
Celanese is a global chemicals and specialty materials company. DuPont's Mobility and Materials Business produces high-performance engineering thermoplastics, elastomers, pastes, filaments and advanced film.
The Commission's investigation showed that, the parties compete in the supply of engineering thermoplastics to customers in the automotive, industrial and commercial, electric and electronic, and consumer-end markets.
Following the transaction, the combined entity would become the largest producer of thermoplastic copolyester (‘TPC') in the European Economic Area (‘EEA') and globally, with only a few alternative suppliers remaining. TPC is an engineering plastic mainly used for automotive, but also in industrial and commercial, electric and electronic, and consumer applications.
Divesting TPC Business
To address the Commission's competition concerns, Celanese offered to divest its global TPC business, including its production facility in Ferrara (Italy), and the
Pibiflex and
Riteflex TPC's brands.
The commitments consist of the divestiture of a stand-alone business, which fully removes the overlap between the parties' activities. This will enable a purchaser to run the divestment business as a viable competitive force in the market on a lasting basis. Celanese proposed to divest the business to
Taro Plast S.p.a., an Italian producer of engineering plastics.
The Commission will formalize its conclusions on the purchaser in a separate buyer approval process.
Following the market test, the Commission concluded that the transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns. The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.
Source: European Commission
