Almost half a century after the end of World War Two, when American occupation forces broke up the big Japanese conglomerates, two members of the country’s Mitsubishi group are moving to integrate their respective managements. On 19 November, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (MCHC, Tokyo / Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) put an end to the speculations – see Plasteurope.com of 17.08.2009 – and made a definite offer to buy Mitsubishi Rayon (MRC, Tokyo / Japan; www.mrc.co.jp).

Under the deal, worth some EUR 1.5 bn, MCHC will begin offering MRC shareholders YEN 380 per share starting February 2010, effectively turning MRC into its subsidiary. This would mean that MRC will become a new core business group of the MCHC holding company, alongside Mitsubishi Plastics (MPI), Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC).

The acquisition will create a new global materials manufacturing giant, turning MCHC into the world’s number one producer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) following MRC’s acquisition of Lucite International at the beginning of the year – see Plasteurope.com of 08.06.2009.