The European Commission has approved the takeover of Solvay’s (Brussels / Belgium; www.solvay.com) European polyamide 6.6 business to Domo Chemicals (Leuna / Germany; www.domochemicals.com). The commission gave its approval for the divestment of the Belgian company’s global, non-European PA 6.6 activities to BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) in January 2019 – see Plasteurope.com of 18.01.2019.

Solvay’s European PA 6.6 business includes the “Belle Etoile” site in Saint-Fons / France, and facilities in Gorzów / Poland, Blanes / Spain and Valence / France. Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net) shows that the Saint-Fons site has a capacity for 120,000 t/y of HMD, 53,000 t/y of “Stabamid” PA 6.6 and about the same amount for “Technyl” compounds. A smaller facility for PA 10 is located there too. The Belgian company also produces PA fibres in Valence, PA 6 in Gorzów and PA 6.6 and HMD in Blanes.

With Domo focusing on the PA 6 value chain, this differs compared to the feedstock, intermediates and final products involved with PA 6.6, according to the EU commission. Therefore, the Domo-Solvay transaction raises no competition concerns under the EU merger regulation.