L 312/60 Official Journal of the European Union 29.11.2005 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 13 July 2005 declaring a concentration compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement — Case No COMP/M.3625 — Blackstone/Acetex (notified under document number C(2005) 2672) (Only the English text is authentic) (2005/839/EC) On 13 July 2005 the Commission adopted a Decision in a merger case under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (1), and in particular Article 8(1) of that Regulation. A non-confidential version of the full Decision can be found in the authentic language of the case and in the working languages of the Commission on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, at the following address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/ competition/index_en.html On 20 January 2005, the Commission received a notifi- cation of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 by which the under- taking Celanese Corporation (‘Celanese’, US) controlled by Blackstone Crystal Holdings Capital Partners (Blackstone’, Cayman Islands) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of that Regulation the whole of the undertaking Acetex Corporation (‘Acetex’, Canada) by way of purchase of shares. Blackstone is a private merchant-banking company based in the U.S,, active mainly in financial advisory services, private equity investment and property investment. As described below, one of the companies controlled by Blackstone, ‘Celanese’, is active on the same product markets as Acetex. Celanese is a chemicals company active globally in four main sectors: chemical products, acetate products, technical polymers and food ingredients. In the chemical products sector, Celanese manufactures basic chemicals such as acetic acid, acetic anhydride and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM); performance chemicals such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and emulsions; and specialty chemicals including carboxylic acids, alcohols, amines and esters. Acetex is active in the acetyls and plastic business. The principal products of Acetex’s acetyls business are acetic acid and VAM, which together represented more than () O] L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1. 70 % of Acetex’s acetyls sales of 2003. Acetex’s acetyls products also include the following acetic acid deri- vatives: acetic anhydride, PVOH and polyvinyl acetate (PVAC). The Advisory Committee on Concentrations, at its 132nd meeting on 22 June 2005, delivered a favourable opinion on a draft Decision granting clearance submitted to it by the Commission (2). The Hearing Officer, in a report dated 29 June 2005, took the view that the right of the parties to be heard had been respected (2). I. THE RELEVANT MARKETS Relevant product markets The Commission’s investigation showed that the relevant product markets were the following: acetic acid, VAM, acetic anhydride and PVOH. Acetic acid is an intermediate chemical product used in the production of various other chemicals including VAM, PVOH, acetic anhydride, acetate esters and mono- chloroacetic acid. The Commission’s investigation showed that acetic acid constitutes a separate product market as there are no substitutable products available on the market. () 0] C 297, 29.11.2005.