Celanese (Dallas, Texas / USA; www.celanese.com) and Rhodia Acetow’s (Freiburg / Germany; www.rhodia-acetow.com) plans to merge their acetate tow businesses – see Plasteurope.com of 23.06.2017 – will not be happening after all. Both partners have declared the planned transaction a failure after the European Commission evidently required “excessive” divestitures. Prior to this, Mexico, Turkey, China and Russia had all approved the deal.

Celanese CEO Mark Rohr says the company is “disappointed” at not being able to reach an agreement with the European Commission on acceptable conditions for the proposed joint venture to proceed. The latter's requirements would have cancelled out all the benefits of the transaction. Rohr said the company will be reviewing its “strategic options.” He will be announcing details of the company’s alternative plans at “Investor Day” on 1 May 2018.

Celanese and Rhodia Acetow are currently the number two and three for cellulose acetate on the world market – with the exception of China. The merged entity worth EUR 1.3 bn would become the new world market leader, “with the risk of significantly reducing competition in the industry,” stated the commission in its preliminary concerns in October 2017. The two remaining major competitors, Eastman and Daicel, would not be in a position to exert sufficient competitive pressure. In addition, the EU competition watchdog considers the industry to have high barriers for those wishing to enter the market for this material, which is used in cigarette filters and plastics packaging.