Ineos Enterprises has signed an agreement to buy MBCC Group’s admixture business from Sika. The deal is required by European antitrust regulators to approve Sika’s purchase of the MBCC Group, formerly BASF Construction Chemicals. The transaction is scheduled to complete in the first half of this year, subject to regulatory approvals.
The business, which produces concrete additives essential for the construction industry, has annual sales of $1 billion and 35 manufacturing sites across Europe, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and employs more than 1,600 people.
Ashley Reed, CEO of Ineos Enterprises, said: “I am very pleased to have agreed the acquisition of MBCC’s admixture business. These well-invested and well-positioned sites present new opportunities for Ineos to grow in the construction market.”
In November 2021, Sika agreed to buy MBCC Group from an affiliate of global private equity firm Lone Star Funds for €5.2 billion.
Subsequently, in April 2002 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had decided to investigate Sika’s takeover of MBCC, as the companies are the two largest suppliers of chemical admixtures in the UK, together accounting for over half of the country’s supply
The CMA published its findings last month, concluding that the deal could be expected to reduce competition in the supply of chemical admixtures for cement, concrete and wet mortar in the UK, and this would require part of MBCC’s business to be sold to a third party.
By: Elaine Burridge
Source: chemanager-online.com
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