BASF and Ineos to merge styrene business

BASF and Ineos will merge the styrenics business and form a joint venture named Styrolution with a 50% stake. Both parties signed a letter of intent on November 29, but they still have to wait for approval from the regulatory agency. It is expected that the merger will be completed in 2011.

The joint venture will merge their global operations, including styrene monomer (SM), polystyrene (PS), ABS, SBC and other styrene-based copolymers and copolymer compounds. BASF plans to separate styrene production facilities in Germany, Belgium, South Korea, India and Mexico into new joint ventures; Ineos plans to contribute ABS production facilities in Spain, Germany, India and Thailand. The new joint venture will not include BASF's SM/PS capacity at Ludwigshafen Base and its SM/PS joint venture business in Nanjing, China. Ineos will also retain its expanded polystyrene business. Based on 2010 data, the joint venture's annual sales revenue will exceed 5 billion euros. The picture shows the photo of the high-level representatives of the two parties attending the signing ceremony.