MOSCOW (MRC) -- JSR Corp. and MOL have received European Commission approval to form Vierium Investment, a new joint venture company to produce 60,000 t/y of solution polymerized styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, according to GV.
The venture, owned 51% by JSR and 49% by MOL, will utilize MOL's existing plant infrastructures and JSR's S-SBR production technologies.
Commercial operations are scheduled for 2017 and a capacity expansion is under study and will be implemented based on demand.
The commission concluded, under the simplified merger review procedure, that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns given the parties' limited market share and the presence of a number of strong competitors producing S-SBR in the European Economic Area.
As MRC wrote before, Hungarian largest oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. laid the cornerstone of a butadiene plant in a move that may decrease Hungary's dependency on imports of the chemical. MOL is set to invest EUR120 million (USD162.7 million) in the plant of its petrochemical arm TVK, part of the company's 300-billion-forint (USD1.37 billion) three-year investment scheme.
MRC