Brussels, 25/08/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 25 August, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to the planned acquisition by US company Berkshire of US company Lubrizol. The Commission decided that the deal would not raise competition concerns, because of the parties' moderate market shares and the presence of a number of credible competitors in the markets concerned. The Commission examined the competitive effects of the proposed acquisition in the affected markets for the sale of acrylic emulsions, glass fibre products, DBSAM (double-bonded sulfonic acid mononmers) and decorative coatings.
The Commission assessed the “vertical relationship” between acrylic emulsions, produced by Lubrizol, and Berkshire subsidiary's (Johns Manville) production of glass fibre products, that uses the former as an input. The Commission also assessed the vertical relationship between DBSAM produced by Lubrizol and Berkshire subsidiary's (Benjamin Moore) production of decorative coatings that uses the former as an input. It concluded, in both cases, that there would be no risk of input or customer foreclosure post-merger. (O.L./transl.fl)