Brussels, 25/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided, on 22 June, to open a second phase of the investigation concerning the planned acquisition of Lenzing AG, an Austrian company that manufactures artificial fibres, by CVC Capital Partners Group Ltd (CVC). As CVC already has control of Acordis, a company in the same branch of activities, in initial investigation by the Commission identified a certain number of markets for which this merger could be of concern.
Subsidiary of CVC, multinational group operating at the global level, Acordis manufactures artificial fibres and specific materials aimed at industrial, textile, medical and sanitary applications. Lenzing markets and manufactures artificial fibres made from cellulose aimed at textile and non-cloth applications, engineering and the production of plastic and paper films. The initial investigation by the Commission revealed that the envisaged acquisition would merge high shares on the markets for viscose staple fibres, lyocell and lyocell production technology, which risks affecting the competitive situation in the markets in question. During the first phase of investigation, CVC and Lenzing made undertakings to the Commission on certain points, but they where unable to manage to dissipate all the concerns concerning the merger. Also, the Commission considers it necessary to continue the investigation, in order to determine, in particular, to what extent and in what specific applications the viscose staple fibres and other fibres could replace lyocell fibres. The Commission now has four months to take a final decision.