Brussels, 06/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 5 November, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the planned combination of the European chlorvinyls businesses of INEOS of Switzerland and Solvay of Belgium into a newly created joint venture was in line with the EU Merger Regulation. The deal announced on 7 May and notified to the Commission on 16 September would give rise to a world leader, but the Commission's initial investigation “indicated competition concerns in the market of suspension polyvinyl chloride (“S-PVC”) and sodium hypochlorite (“bleach”), where each of Solvay and Ineos is a key player.” The Commission fears that the remaining competitors in both markets may not be able to exert sufficiently strong constraints on the behaviour of the joint venture in the market. The removal of the competitive constraint that INEOS and Solvay currently exert on each other may lead to a reduction of choice for customers and potentially to an increase in prices for the products concerned. The parties offered commitments in order to remove the Commission's competition concerns. However, the Commission considers that the commitments “failed to provide a sufficiently clear-cut solution” to eliminate its concerns. The Commission will now investigate the effects of this transaction in-depth to determine whether its initial concerns are confirmed and a decision will be announced within 90 days (before 21 March). (FG/transl.fl)