On March 13, 2024, the European Commission unconditionally approved INEOS’ acquisition of sole control of certain assets of TotalEnergies in France in Phase I.
In the course of its investigation, the Commission examined in detail the vertical overlap between the target’s upstream activities in the production of ethylene and INEOS’ downstream polyvinyl chloride (PVC) business. The CRA team advised INEOS during the proceedings and conducted extensive economic analyses to assess the vertical effects of the transaction. In line with the results of CRA’s analysis, the Commission concluded that the merged entity would have neither the ability nor the incentive to pursue any foreclosure strategy. The Commission also found that any hypothetical attempts at anticompetitive behaviour by the merged entity would be limited by the presence of numerous competitors in the relevant petrochemical markets.
A CRA team including Raphaël De Coninck, Diana Jackson, Christoph von Muellern, Samuel Zimmermann, Sylvestre Boittin-Duchesne and Yahnis Adje supported INEOS for this transaction.
The Commission’s press release can be found here.
