Commission clears acquisition of Chemetall by BASF

31/10/2016 - The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Chemetall of the US by BASF of Germany. Chemetall develops, manufactures and supplies surface treatment products and services for a range of industries including aerospace, aluminium and automotive. BASF is a global chemical company. The activities of the companies overlap to a very limited extent. The companies are active on neighbouring markets, in particular in the automotive industry, where Chemetall offers automotive surface treatment products and BASF offers automotive coating products to automotive manufacturers. However, after the transaction BASF's position will remain moderate on both of these markets and it will continue to face competition from other important suppliers active in the European Economic Area. The Commission therefore concluded that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns. The transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure.