Mexichem SAB de CV — Latin America's largest producer of PVC pipes, vinyl resins and compounds — is optimistic that Mexico's antitrust authority will approve its contentious purchases of a rival plastic pipe maker and a PVC resin producer by the end of March.
“We're expecting to receive authorization [for the purchases] before the end of this quarter,” Enrique Ortega Prieto, strategic planning and investor relations director of Mexichem, said Feb. 2.
In October, the Federal Competition Commission (CFC) upheld its June decision to block Mexichem's proposed acquisition of pipe maker Plasticos Rex SA de CV and resin producer Polycid SA de CV. Both target companies are owned by chemical company Cydsa SAB de CV of Garza García, Mexico,
The commission argued that allowing Mexichem to purchase the companies would constitute a “risk for the market.”
But Mexico City-based Mexichem lodged a second appeal, and Ortega said: “We've been having a lot of meetings with the authorities and think there is no additional information required. We're optimistic.”
Ortega said Mexichem also is pursuing other opportunities related to the plastics industry in the Americas, though he declined to go into detail. “We shall have some news in the middle of the year,” he said.
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