EU Approves Sale of Kem One to OpenGate

Private equity investor OpenGate Capital has received the EU green light for its planned takeover of Kem One Innovative Vinyls, the plastics processing side of the former Arkema PVC business.

The EU Commission said it did not see any potential disruption of competition as the company encompassing the compounding as well as profile and pipe extrusion activities of former Arkema subsidiary Alphacan does not have a significant market share.

The French chemical group’s entire vinyls activities, from chlorine and caustic soda to PVC polymerization and its processing business are now in the hands of OpenGate, in joint ownership with Alain de Krassny, who is supervisory board chairman of Austrian chemical producer Donau-Chemie.

Initial buyer of the vinyls businesses, in 2013, was US-based Klesch group, which subsequently carved out the more profitable downstream units and later declaring bankruptcy for the upstream side.

Over the past year, OpenGate has been piecing together an integrated PVC business to sell. In addition to Kem One, it has acquired Solvay’s PVC compounding subsidiary and Tessenderlo’s European profile extrusion business Profialis.