EU competition authorities have approved the sale of German PVC converter HT Troplast (D-53839 Troisdorf; www.ht-troplast.com) to a US private equity consortium of Carlyle Group (Dallas, Texas / USA; www.thecarlylegroup.com) and Advent International (Boston, Massachusetts / USA; www.adventinternational.com). No purchase price was announced, but financial sources put the figure in the EUR 300m range. Carlyle is believed to hold 55%, Advent 55%. HT Troplast employs 4,300 and has annual sales of EUR 770m, including EUR 640m with plastics window profiles.

The company is the last of the plastics processing subsidiaries of German chemical group Rütgers (www.ruetgers.de) to be divested as its parent RAG (www.rag.com) prepares to absorb chemical group Degussa (www.degussa.com). HT is parent of European PVC window profile market leader Profine (D-53839 Troisdorf; www.profine-group.com), which with its “KBE” and “Kömnmerling” units is European market leader in plastic window profiles. Subsidiary Trocellen (www.trocellen.com) is one of the leading European producers of polyolefin foam. Its “Dynos” unit is regarded as world´s leading producer of flexible abrasive discs made of vulcanised fibre.

Carlyle subsidiary Key Plastics (www.keyplastics.com) acquired the automotive division of Kendrion (NL-3704 HD Zeist; www.kendrion.com) in September 2004. Advent is owner of PVC producer Vinnolit (D-85737 Ismaning; www.vinnolit.de) and has a minority stake in another German PVC producer, Vestolit (D-45765 Marl; www.vestolit.com).