The US-Indian investment consortium of Access Industries, New York, and the Chatterjee group, New Delhi , is the winner of the race to acquire Basell (www.basell.com), Hoofddorp / The Netherlands, it was announced yesterday. The sale price of EUR 4.4 bn includes EUR 2.2 bn in net debt. The 50:50 joint venture of BASF and Shell, with sales of EUR 6.7 bn, 6,600 employees and production sites in 21 countries, is Europe's largest polyolefins producer. Iran's National Petroleum Company (NPC, www.nipc.com), Teheran, is believed to have been the highest bidder, but objections from the US government apparently derailed this deal. The Chatterjee group is part owner of Haldia Petrochemicals (www.haldia petrochemicals.com), which is expected to run Basell.