The European Commission has cleared acquisition under the simplified merger review procedure of Lubrizol, a US specialty chemical company by Berkshire, a US company which is engaged through its subsidiaries in diverse business activities.

The Commission approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of sole control of Lubrizol by Berkshire. Lubrizol is a US specialty chemical company supplying technologies and producing additives, ingredients, resins and compounds for its customers in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets. Berkshire is a US company which is engaged through its subsidiaries in diverse business activities, including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, finance, manufacturing, retailing and services.

According to the Commission, the transaction would not raise competition concerns, because of the parties' moderate market shares and the presence of a number of credible competitors in the markets concerned. The Commission assessed the vertical relationship between acrylic emulsions, produced by Lubrizol, and Berkshire subsidiary's (Johns Manville) production of glass fibre products, that uses the former as an input. The Commission also assessed the vertical relationship between DBSAM produced by Lubrizol and Berkshire subsidiary's (Benjamin Moore) production of decorative coatings that uses the former as an input. In both cases, it concluded that there would be no risk of input or customer foreclosure post-merger.