EU approves BASF’s €3bn Cognis acquisition
A BASF statement said the chemicals giant had won approval subject to the “divestiture of [Cognis] businesses that accounted for sales of significantly less than €100m, which is less than 3 per cent of total sales”.
The Chinese authorities also approved the acquisition on Monday, meaning that the transaction now has, says BASF “approval from all relevant competition authorities”.
UK site divested
Given the divestiture caveat, BASF said it had “committed” to the EC to divest businesses and assets located at Cognis’ UK site in Hythe: namely its hydroxy methacrylates business, the multifunctional methacrylates (MFM) and adducts business, and plants for manufacture of polyalkylene glycols (PAG) and PAG-based lubricants.
In June 2010, BASF first announced its agreement to acquire major food ingredients player Cognis for an equity purchase price of €700m, although the enterprise value of the transaction is €3.1bn when net debt and pension obligations are included.
