European Commission approves BASF’s acquisition of Cognis
But BASF must divest certain Cognis assets
The European Commission and Chinese authorities have approved the acquisition of Cognis Holding by BASF, the world’s largest chemical company. The European Commission’s approval is subject to the divestiture of business that accounts for sales of significantly less than €100m – less than 3% of Cognis’ total sales.
The transaction has now received approval from all relevant competition authorities and is expected to close in the first half of December.
BASF has committed to the European Commission to divest the following businesses and assets at Cognis’ site in Hythe, UK: Cognis’ hydroxy methacrylates business; multifunctional methacrylates and adducts business; and plants for the manufacture of polyalkylene glycols (PAG) and PAG-based lubricants. With regards to the latter, BASF will retain the business’ intellectual property and customer base and will receive PAG and PAG-based lubricants manufactured at Hythe through a toll manufacturing agreement.
The enterprise value of the acquisition is €3.1bn.
