Sika Drops Ratcliffe’s Ineos for Cinven on UK Antitrust Pushback

Sika AG dropped the planned sale of assets to Ineos, the chemicals company built by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, and switched to buyout firm Cinven after UK regulators signaled antitrust concerns.

The Swiss construction chemicals company announced the divestment of its MBCC Group’s admixtures business to the UK private equity firm on Wednesday, about two months after it chose Ineos as the winning bidder. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Jim Ratcliffe

Source: AFP

Sika needs to sell the assets to win regulatory approval for its largest-ever transaction, a takeover of German rival MBCC for 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($6 billion).

After the ...