The Belgian chemicals group Solvay has now confirmed that negotiations with the Turkish glassmaker Sisecam for the purchase of a share in the Bulgarian soda ash producer Sodi are at an advanced stage….
The Belgian chemicals group Solvay has now confirmed that negotiations with the Turkish glassmaker Sisecam for the purchase of a share in the Bulgarian soda ash producer Sodi are at an advanced stage. The Bulgarian government and Solvay were finalising last week an agreement already detailed in Glassonline World News under which Solvay is acquiring for US$ 160 million a 60% share in the state-owned Sodi, which runs the world“s largest single synthetic soda ash plant with a total annual capacity of 1.2 million tons. “We are negotiating a deal with Sisecam under which it would buy 25% of our 60% in Sodi, giving it a 17% stake in the whole company,” said a Solvay spokesman recently. “We made clear, when we announced in December our intention to buy a controlling share in Sodi, that we were looking for partners.” Once Sisecam acquires a 17% share, it will be entitled to 250,000 tonnes a year of Sodi“s output. This will raise the Turkish company“s total annual soda ash production to 1 million tons, according to Sisecam“s general manager Adnan Caglayan. A partnership with Sisecam would leave Solvay with a minority 45% share in Sodi, which may help to allay concerns among the competition authorities in the European Union that the privatisation of Sodi might strengthen Solvay“s dominant position in the Western European soda ash market. Sodi is a major exporter of soda ash into Western Europe, particularly to Mediterranean countries. In Italy, for example, the two major soda ash suppliers are Solvay and Sodi. The competition directorate of the European Commission has referred the proposed Solvay takeover of Sodi to the national antitrust agencies in Belgium, Greece, Italy and France. Solvay stated last week that the Belgian, French and Greek agencies had approved the deal but that the company was still waiting for the approval of the Italian authority. The deal is, however, outside the direct competence of the European Commission because it falls below an acquisition threshold of ECU 250 million (US$ 280 million).