Basell Wins EU Approval to Buy Lyondell Chemical Company

Basell wins EU approval to buy Lyondell chemical company

BRUSSELS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — The world’s leading producer of polyolefins Basell on Friday won approval from the European Union (EU) to buy the U.S. chemical company Lyondell for roughly 19 billion U.S. dollars.

The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust watchdog, gave its green light to the deal after finding that the proposed transaction would not impede effective competition on the market.

“The parties’ activities in Europe are largely complementary due to their different production focuses,” the commission said ina statement.

Basell, headquartered in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, is the global leader in polyolefin technology, production and marketing. It is the largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products and a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts.

In addition, the company also involves in licensing of polyolefin technologies.

The U.S. company Lyondell, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is North America’s third-largest independent, publicly traded chemical company. Lyondell is a leading global manufacturer of chemicals and plastics, a refiner of heavy, high-sulfur crude oil and a significant producer of fuel products.

The two companies announced their merger deal in July, in whichBasell would spend approximately 19 billion U.S. dollars in cash to buy Lyondell, including the assumption of debt.

Basell hoped the acquisition of Lyondell would complement and further strengthen its polyolefins business.

(c) 2007 Xinhua News Agency – CEIS. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.