Eastman Chemical wins EU approval for Solutia buy
The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Solutia by Eastman Chemical, the competition watchdog for the European Union (EU) said on Friday.
The commission's investigation found the transaction between the two US-based chemical companies would not raise competition concerns because the parties are not active on the same markets and will continue to face sufficient competition, it said.
The investigation examined the competitive effects arising from the vertical relationship between Eastman's upstream supply of 2-ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHA) and Solutia's downstream supply of plasticizers for use in polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sheet.
The commission found that post transaction, the merged entity would continue to face competition from a number of strong competitors upstream.
The report said that 2-EHA producers would continue to have a range of alternative customers inside and outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Moreover, the merger is not expected to result in any substantial change in the markets concerned since Solutia is not currently a customer of Eastman in the EEA, the agency said.
The proposed acquisition was announced earlier this year.
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