EU clears ICIG as buyers for Solvay, INEOS assets

BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Tuesday approved Luxembourg-based ICIG as the buyer of assets belonging to chemical groups INEOS and Solvay (Brussels: SOLB.BR - news) , a regulatory step necessary to clear a joint venture of the latter two groups.

INEOS and Solvay agreed to sell certain factories in Germany, France, Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands in exchange for the clearance of a PVC joint venture which will become the world's second-biggest producer after Japan's Shin-Etsu.

The European Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the European Union, cleared the joint venture deal in May 2014, stipulating that the two groups had to divest certain assets to allay competition concerns. ($1 = 0.8874 euros) (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek)