US ethylene and PVC producer Westlake Chemical (Houston, Texas; www.westlake.com) appears to have been searching for an investment outlet for its shale gas profits – see Plasteurope.com of 13.08.2013. The company has now announced that it is buying German PVC producer Vinnolit (Ismaning; www.vinnolit.de) from Advent International for EUR 490m. The transaction still has to meet regulatory approval and is expected to be completed by Q3 this year. Westlake CEO Albert Chao called the acquisition “an excellent strategic fit”, adding that, “It will allow us to expand our chlorvinyl business globally and adds important specialty PVC products and technology to our existing portfolio."

Vinnolit claims to be the world’s leading producer of PVC specialities. The company’s capacities for 780,000 t/y of PVC as well as 665,000 t/y of VCM are spread across six plants – Burghausen, Gendorf, Knapsack, Cologne and Schkopau in Germany as well as Hillhouse in the UK. Vinnolit acquired the latter two from Ineos in 2007. The company, with a total workforce of 1,400, posted sales of EUR 917m in 2013.

To date Westlake’s activities have mostly been focused on the US. The group’s nameplate capacities come to 865,000 t/y of PVC as well as about 1.1m t/y of VCM, in addition to further ethylene and PE lines. The company’s only plant outside of North America is located in Suzhou / China, where it produces PVC. In 2012 Chao tried unsuccessfully to acquire US competitor Georgia Gulf (GGC, Atlanta, Georgia / USA; www.ggc.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 24.07.2012.