Brussels, 24/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the planned acquisition of Engelhard, a US company active in speciality chemicals, including catalysts, by BASF of Germany. The parties´ activities overlap horizontally in the worldwide market for catalysts for hydrogenation and its submarket of catalysts for olefin purification/saturation. However, on these markets the parties face competition from the market leader Südchemie and other operators with substantial market shares. The transaction does not raise competition concerns on the markets for pigments. On an EEA-wide market for complex inorganic coloured pigments the transaction leads to a marginal horizontal overlap and a combined market share which remains below 20%. On a worldwide market for pearlescent pigments the increment in market shares is minimal and Merck has a market share which is substantially higher than the combined market share of the parties.