Jones Lang LaSalle


Engelhard bid is cleared

BASF, the world's top chemical company by sales, won approval yesterday from Europe's highest competition authority to acquire New Jersey-based Engelhard.

"The (European) Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it," the commission said in a statement.

BASF made the bid for Engelhard -- the biggest takeover attempt in its more than 140-year history -- to enter new, growing markets and to reduce the cyclical nature of its businesses.
Engelhard, based in Iselin, had originally rejected BASF's unsolicited $4.9 billion offer as inadequate, and earlier this week said it was talking to other suitors.

Competition clearance permits one company to buy another, but does not compel either to complete a deal.
-- Reuters