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Polypropylene merger shaved a bit

Montedison S.p.A. of Italy and Royal Dutch-Shell of the Netherlands will be allowed to finalize the $6-billion merger of polypropylene operations an-nounced last fall now that the two partners have agreed to sell off the polypropylene assets of Shell Oil in the U.S.

The merger creates Montell Polyolefins. The agreement settles a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission that the original plan to combine all polypropylene operations of the two companies would constitute a virtual monopoly. The agreement identified Union Carbide Corp. as one FTC-approved buyer of Shell's operations that would still provide competition to Montell. The FTC decision is open for comment until March 11.

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