Ineos must sell Runcorn sites
13 May 2014
The European Commission has granted clearance to chemicals firms Ineos and Solvay for their proposed chlorvinyls joint venture, but only on the condition that Ineos sells a number of its sites across Europe.
Under the terms of the Commission’s clearance of the proposed 50/50 venture, Ineos must sell a number of sites, including its Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) plants at Runcorn.
Other plants that Ineos are required to divest include: its membrane chlorine plant, EDC plant and Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) plant at Tessenderlo, Belgium; its Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plants at Mazingarbe, France and Beek, the Netherlands; and its PVC and VCM plants at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
The Commission also requires that Ineos’ membrane chlorine plant at Runcorn be placed in a joint venture between the Ineos/Solvay joint venture and the new owner of the aforementioned plants.
The joint venture can only be formed once the Commission’s required package of asset divestments has been fully implemented.
Ineos and Solvay will operate as separate entities until the completion of the transaction, which is due to take place in Q4 of this year.
