By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Mar. 23�Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to acquire Basell NV's 195,000 tonne/year capacity polypropylene plant in Cologne, Germany.
Dow will acquire the plant and associated business for an unnamed sum. It will take ownership of the site Apr. 1.
The sale of the plant allows Basell to divest polypropylene capacity, as required by the European Commission in order to allow a recent merger. Basell is a 50:50 joint venture of Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BASF AG (OGJ Online, Sept. 28, 2000). It combines previous companies Montell (100% Shell), Elenac (50:50 Shell/BASF), and Targor (100 % BASF).
"This acquisition is an important step for our polypropylene business," said Romeo Kreinberg, business group president for Polyolefins and Elastomers businesses of Dow. "The Cologne unit uses Unipol production technology, matching the technology and assets we recently acquired from Union Carbide."
