MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Commission has approved the acquisition of PVC compounds and profiles producer Kem One Innovative Vinyls, based in France, by OpenGate Capital Group Europe, the Luxembourg-based offshoot of US private equity group OpenGate Capital, said Europeanplasticsnews.
In 2013, previous owner Klesch Group placed Kem One’s upstream business, Kem One SAS, which includes PVC polymer plants in France and Spain, into receivership. This business was acquired by OpenGate in early 2014 in partnership with Alain de Krassny, president of Vienna-based Donau Chemie, who became president of Kem One. OpenGate and Krassny also had the option to acquire the downstream business, which was given clearance by the European Commission in an announcement on 7 July.
The Commission said it assessed the impact of the merger on two markets, S-PVC compounds and the PVC building systems markets.
It said: "The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, in particular because of the moderate market shares of the two companies and because a sufficient number of players will continue to exercise competitive constraint on the merged entity. The transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure."
Kem One Innovative Vinyls owns Resinoplast, which makes PVC compounds for various sectors including automotive, construction, furnishings, electrical, packaging, paramedical, health and industrial equipment. It also owns Alphacan, which extrudes PVC profiles for windows and shutters, and tubes for the construction and electrical markets.
OpenGate Capital separately owns Profialis, a PVC window and door profiles producer in France and Belgium, which it acquired from Tessenderlo in 2013, and also Benvic, a PVC compounder with operations in France, Italy and Spain, which it acquired from Solvay in 2014.
The Commission added in its announcement: "This decision is not related to the ongoing state aid investigation regarding the restructuring plan of Kem One SAS."
The inquiry was started in October 2014 to examine whether a finance package for the Kem One SAS upstream business agreed by French authorities is compatible with EU rules on state aid to firms in difficulty. The Commission is specifically investigating a EUR30m loan from France’s Economic and Social Development Fund to Kem One SAS. The rescue package for Kem One SAS also included a EUR15m investment subsidy and an EUR80m repayable advance for the part-funding of an electrolysis conversion project at the Lavera facility in France, which produces vinyl chloride monomer.
At the start of the inquiry last year, Kem One said it was "confident in the strength of the case" it had presented to the Commission that the rescue package complied with EU rules.
Kem One, a fully integrated vinyl production company, was established mid-2012 following the acquisition of Arkema's vinyl products division by the Klesch Group. The company employs 2,600 people at 22 manufacturing sites, primarily in Europe but also in Asia and North America. Europe’s third-largest producer of PVC with revenues in excess of one billion euros, Kem One continues to grow and build on its numerous strengths with a view to becoming market leader for integrated vinyl solutions.
MRC