Mitsubishi/Lucite deal approved “with conditions”

China's anti-monopoly regulator has approved Mitsubishi Rayon's takeover of Lucite International, but imposed conditions on the two companies including the sale of half of Lucite's specialised polymer production.

In mid-April, it was reported that the Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) was still scrutinising the deal, despite other competition regulators worldwide already giving their clearance. A few days later, the Ministry announced that it had cleared the deal subject to provisos which had been negotiated by the companies over the past weeks. It also clarified that it had opened a second-stage review of the transaction on February 20, and had subsequently “evaluated all possible impacts of [the] concentration” before completing its review on April 24.

“This is a much more sophisticated-looking decision: a combination of what the relevant market is and then the market shares and why [Mofcom] had an issue with it,” said Kirstie Nicholson, of counsel with Lovells in Shanghai.