Westlake Chemical (Houston, Texas / USA; www.westlake.com) on 31 July announced the completion of its acquisition of German PVC producer Vinnolit (Ismaning; www.vinnolit.de) and its subsidiaries from Advent International – for previous coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 28.05.2014. The EUR 490m deal includes Vinnolit’s PVC and VCM facilities in Germany and the UK.

Following the purchase, Vinnolit will continue to operate under its own name as a Westlake company, with its headquarters remaining in Ismaning. Westlake CEO Albert Chao called the acquisition “another major step along our strategic path [that] allows us to bring new speciality PVC products to the market, expand our technological and product development capacity and to grow our global presence with a footprint in Europe and surrounding markets.”

Vinnolit’s change of ownership is the latest in a string of changes that are occurring on the European PVC landscape, including the recently announced set-up of Ineos and Solvay joint venture Inovyn. For a more detailed look at the current market picture, see Plasteurope.com of 29.07.2014.