Further to the signing of a letter of intent to form a 50/50 Joint Venture, Ineos and Solvay have submitted their application for competition clearance to the European Commission. The Commission will now consider the application and determine whether the Joint Venture can proceed as proposed.

In addition to competition clearance from the European Commission and other relevant authorities, the proposed transaction is subject to the applicable information/consultation procedures with employee representatives in the countries involved. These processes are currently under way.

After completion of such procedures, the parties intend to enter into legally-binding agreements to form the Joint Venture subject to customary closing conditions.

Ineos and Solvay will continue to run their PVC businesses separately until completion of the transaction, which is dependent on the above approvals and procedures.