By Nathan Allen 
 

European antitrust regulators on Friday gave conditional approval for BASF SE (BAS.XE) to buy Solvay SA's (SOLB.BT) nylon businesses in a 1.6 billion euro ($1.82 billion) deal.

Following an investigation into the takeover, the European Commission found that the deal in its original form would have likely driven up prices in a number of markets related to the nylon industry.

The merged company would also have had the ability and incentive to restrict its competitors' access to inputs used in the production of nylon, the commission said.

To allay these concerns Solvay offered to sell manufacturing facilities in France, Poland and Spain.

BASF and Solvay also agreed to form a joint venture between the merged company and the eventual buyer of these assets and to sign long-term supply agreements for ADN, a chemical used to make nylon.

 

Write to Nathan Allen at nathan.allen@dowjones.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2019 06:24 ET (11:24 GMT)

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