Brussels, 08/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 May, the European Commission gave conditional clearance to the planned combination of the European chlorvinyls businesses of INEOS AG of Switzerland and Solvay S.A. of Belgium into a newly created joint venture. The approval is conditional upon the divestiture of certain of INEOS' suspension polyvinyl chloride (“S-PVC”) plants and related assets. This divestment will provide its purchaser with a self-standing S-PVC business capable of competing with the new joint venture. The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as originally notified, would have enabled the merged entity to raise prices for S-PVC in North West Europe and for sodium hypochlorite (bleach) in the Benelux, since it combined the two largest suppliers in these markets. The Commission found evidence that INEOS held, already before the transaction, a certain degree of market power, which enabled it to increase prices. The commitments offered address the concerns about overlaps in S-PVC manufacturing in north-west Europe and the Benelux bleach market. The Commission concluded that the transaction, as modified by the commitments following objections raised by the Commission in January 2014, would no longer raise competition concerns. (EL)