Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11290 – INEOS / SINOPEC / ABS JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2023-10-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: China, chemical industry, economic concentration, merger control, oil industry, petrochemicals, special chemicals








C_202300570EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/570


27.10.2023






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11290 – INEOS / SINOPEC / ABS JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2023/570)


1.   
On 19 October 2023, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).
This notification concerns the following undertakings:






—


INEOS AG (‘INEOS’, Switzerland),










—


China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (‘Sinopec’, China), state owned enterprise,










—


INEOS Styrolution Sinopec Advanced Materials (Tianjin) Ltd (‘ABS JV’, China), newly created joint venture, controlled by INEOS and Sinopec.




INEOS and Sinopec will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the ABS JV.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:






—


INEOS is a privately owned conglomerate that produces a range of chemicals including petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products,










—


Sinopec is a petroleum and petrochemical group headquartered in Beijing.






3.   

The business activities of the ABS JV will be the development, construction, operation and ownership of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (‘ABS’) plant primarily engaged in the production and after-sale service of ABS utilising INEOS’ ABS technology in China.



4.   
On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.
Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.


5.   
The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. The following reference should always be specified:
M.11290 – INEOS / SINOPEC / ABS JV
Observations can be sent to the Commission by email or by post. Please use the contact details below:
Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu
Postal address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË







(1)  
            OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).

(2)  
            OJ C 160, 5.5.2023, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/570/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)