Brussels, Belgium, July 22--U.S. investor Platinum Equity won European Commission permission on Wednesday to purchase textile-dye firm DyStar from chemical firms Bayer BASF and Aventis' unit Hoechst.
The Commission announced in a statement that it had approved the deal.
"We are very happy that we could acquire this business," Platinum's founder and chairman, Tom Gores, said at the time of the deal. "We have enormous faith in the future potential of the company."
Bayer, with a 35 percent stake, and BASF, which owns 30 percent, last year mandated Deutsche Bank to explore options for their stakes in DyStar. The third partner, Aventis, which owns the balance of 35 percent, said it was also examining divestment possibilities for its stake.
DyStar employs 3,900 people worldwide and turns over around 800 million euros ($981 million) annually. It was created by Bayer and Hoechst in 1995 and boosted by BASF's textile-dye business in 2000.
The deal was approved under the Commission's simplified procedure used when neither customers nor competitors object.
