Acquisition of sole control of Austria’s Borealis by OMV gets EU nod

The European Commission has said the acquisition of sole control of Borealis, by OMV Aktiengesellschaft (OMV), both of Austria complies with the EU Merger Regulation.

Borealis, which is currently jointly controlled by OMV and the Mubadala Investment Company, of Abu Dhabi, UAE, is active in the production and commercialisation of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilisers, mainly in the EU.

OMV is globally active in the exploration, development and production of oil and gas. It also operates refineries in Austria, Germany and Romania, which produce and sell liquid petroleum gas (LPG), jet fuel, naphtha, gasoline, diesel, light fuel oil, heavy fuel oil, sulphur and calcined coke trades and sells gas and owns a pipeline network and gas storage facilities in Austria.

The Commission said the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns given that Borealis is already jointly controlled by OMV and because of the limited horizontal and vertical overlaps between the activities of the two companies. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.