Brussels, 01/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 31 July, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to the acquisition of Doeflex Compounding Limited (Doeflex) of the UK by INEOS AG (INEOS) of Switzerland. Doeflex is a PVC compounder with a single manufacturing facility located in Swindon, UK. INEOS is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, speciality chemicals and oil products. Among other activities, INEOS produces commodity S-PVC E-PVC, plasticizers and S-PVC compounds in the European Economic Area. These products are used to produce end-products such as pipes, window and door frames, and cables. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns because the merged entity would continue to face strong competition after the merger from companies such as Kem One and Begra, and customers would still have sufficient alternative suppliers in the market for S-PVC compounds and its sub-segments. The Commission says that that in spite of the vertical links between INEOS' upstream activities in S-PVC, E-PVC and plasticizers and its compounding business, the planned deal does not affect INEOS' ability and incentives to shut out competitors from the S-PVC compounds market because INEOS was already vertically integrated pre-transaction and the addition of Doeflex's business has limited impact on the pre-existing situation due to its limited size. (FG)