The European Commission has given the green light for the takeover of Europe´s largest polyolefins producer Basell (NL-2132 MS Hoofddorp; www.basell.com) by US private equity consortium Access Industries (see PIE 11, 2005) through its Luxembourg-based vehicle, Nell Acquisitions. The Commission waved the EUR 4.4 bn transaction through on 5 July under the simplified approval process.

For the present, at least, it appears that Nell will be sole shareholder of Basell. Press reports say Indian-born US businessman Purnendu Chatterjee is pulling out of the deal “temporarily,” but hopes to step back in when he has resolved his differences with the government of the Indian state of West Bengal.

The businessman and the state are said to be at odds over the financial terms of Chatterjee´s planned buyout of West Bengal´s stake in petrochemical producer Haldia (New Delhi; www.haldiapetrochemicals.com). The Indian firm was initially planned to be the acquisition vehicle for Basell, According to the reports, the state sees the risks for Haldia in the Basell deal as too high. Access´s interests are steered by Russian-born American billionaire Len Blavatnik.