The European Commission has approved plans by Poland’s Synthos (Oswiecim; www.synthosgroup.com) to acquire Ineos Styrenics, the EPS business belonging to Ineos Enterprises (Rolle / Switzerland; www.ineos.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 10.05.2016. The EUR 80m deal includes three Ineos European production sites at Wingles / France and Ribécourt / France and Breda / The Netherlands with capacity to produce 310,000 t/y of white and grey EPS. All 250 employees will transfer to the new owner.

In allowing the acquisition to go through without restriction, the Commission said there is some overlap in the two EPS businesses, but the deal raises no competition concerns as the combined market shares are moderate in all relevant markets. What’s more, “the merged entity will continue to face significant competition from established suppliers.”

In addition to EPS, the Polish company produces styrene monomer, polystyrene and adhesives, with facilities in both Poland and the Czech Republic. According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net), SM capacity totals 290,000 t/y and EPS capacity 190,000 t/y.