German chemical and plastics producer Lanxess (Cologne / Germany; www.lanxess.com) has taken the biggest hurdle toward its planned acquisition of US additives specialist Chemtura (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / USA; www.chemtura.com) for EUR 2.4 bn (USD 2.5 bn). At an extraordinary meeting in Philadelphia last week, the US company’s shareholders nearly unanimously (98.88%) approved the deal, which offers USD 33.50 for each of its outstanding common shares. In September 2016, the two companies signed a “definitive agreement” for the transaction – see Plasteurope.com of 27.09.2016. The acquisition will be the largest ever for Lanxess, which was founded in 2004 as a spin-off from Bayer (Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayer.com).

In announcing the vote, Lanxess CEO Matthias Zachert said the deal is still on track to close in mid-2017, by which time all remaining regulatory hurdles should have been taken. US antitrust authorities gave the green light at the end of December last year. After closing, the two main pillars of Chemtura’s portfolio – lubricants and additives – will be integrated into the Lanxess business unit Rhein Chemie Additives (Mannheim / Germany; www.rheinchemie.com) and become part of a newly created operating segment Performance Additives. In addition to lubricant additives and synthetic lubricants used in industrial applications, Chemtura is also a leading supplier of brominated flame retardants, elemental bromine and other bromine derivatives.

The US company’s urethanes business, which produces precursors for specialty polyurethanes, will be integrated into Lanxess’ High Performance Materials segment, which also includes engineering plastics PA and PBT. Chemtura’s organometallics business, which produces catalysts for polymer production as well as fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, will be merged into Lanxess’ Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit.