The European Commission has given itself additional time until 1 June to decide whether, or at least how, to approve the rebirth of Styrolution (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.styrolution.com) as a 50:50 joint venture of BASF (Ludwigshafen; www.basf.com) and Ineos (Lyndhurst / UK; www.ineos.com). The decision was originally scheduled for 18 May.

The extension undoubtedly reflects competition concerns, as reports suggest that the market’s number one and number four players have offered to sell a production plant. Ineos said the plant that could be sacrificed – there is no indication as to whether it would be a BASF or an Ineos facility or where it is located – is worth 3% or less of the combined businesses’ total value.

The new joint venture linking the global activities of the two producers in SM, PS, ABS and other styrenic polymers would be based at Frankfurt / Germany and have sales in excess of EUR 5 bn, according to 2010 figures. Styrolution was created at the beginning of Q4 2010 with the carve-out of the EUR 2.5 bn BASF business that had been for sale for some time. Not quite two months later – see Plasteurope.com of 30.11.2010 – the merger plans were announced. Ineos’ former joint venture Ineos Nova (Fribourg / Switzerland; www.ineos-nova.com) will also be a part of Styrolution. In February of this year, the EU gave Ineos permission to acquire the shares held by Nova Chemicals (Calgary, Alberta / Canada; www.novachem.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 23.02.2011.