Commission clears Degussa acquisition

The European Commission this week gave the go-ahead for German-based chemical company Degussa AG to acquire sole control of the British company Laporte PLC. Both companies are active in the manufacturing of speciality and other chemical products with substantial overlaps. But, according to the Commission both parties made concessions in order to achieve regulatory clearance in the first phase of the investigation. The Commission had serious concerns in the product markets concerning persulfates, cationic reagents and hydroxy monomers. Degussa and Laporte are the only European manufacturers of persulfates, which are primarily used as polymerisation indicators in the plastic industry, where they would have a combined market share in excess of 70 per cent in the European Economic Area. In order to render the concentration compatible with the common market, Degussa has committed itself to divest its persulfates plant in Rheinfelden, Germany, Laporte's Dutch plant at Zaltbommel, where all of Laporte's cationic reagents among other chemicals are manufactured, and Laporte's Hythe plant in the UK which includes all of Laporte's hydroxy monomers business. With the divestments proposed by Degussa, the Commission was able to find an immediate solution for all competition problems identified and clear the merger within the initial six weeks deadline, without entering into a full investigation of the merger.