INEOS/BP

The European Commission has cleared INEOS’s acquisition of BP’s remaining chemicals business, mainly consisting of BP plc’s aromatics and acetyls business, at Phase I.

The transaction created some vertical overlaps between BP’s activities in acetic acid and INEOS’s downstream activities in various products using acetic acid as an input.  However, these concerns were ultimately dismissed, on the basis that any attempt to foreclose downstream rivals would be undermined by rival responses.

A CRA team including Cristina Caffarra, Diana Jackson, Ugur Akgun, Michael Muehlbradt and Daryl Tiong advised INEOS.  More information is available on the Commission’s website under case M.9883.