Westlake Completes Wilhelmshaven PVC Plant Acquisition
The asset purchase expands Westlake’s global chlorovinyls footprint amid a strategic shift in its North American production network.
**Westlake Corporation (WLK) completed its acquisition of a polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride monomer production site in Wilhelmshaven, Germany**, the company said Sunday, strengthening its Performance & Essential Materials business.
The deal, structured as an asset purchase, closed without disclosing financial terms. Westlake said the Wilhelmshaven plant complements its existing chlorovinyl production facilities in Europe and North America, aligning with a broader portfolio realignment that included the planned shutdown of three North American chlorovinyl units in late 2025.
"This acquisition strengthens our Performance & Essential Materials business by expanding our global chlorovinyls manufacturing footprint and complements our existing chlorovinyl production facilities in Europe and North America," said Jean-Marc Gilson, Westlake’s president and chief executive officer.
The Wilhelmshaven site adds to Westlake’s European chlorovinyl capacity, which the company has been reshaping. In December 2025, Westlake announced plans to cease operations at its Aberdeen, Mississippi PVC plant, its Lake Charles, Louisiana North VCM plant, and one chlor-alkali unit at its Lake Charles South site, citing persistent market challenges in global commodities chemicals. Those closures were expected to reduce North American chlorovinyl capacity by approximately 1.9 billion pounds of PVC and VCM annually while maintaining aggregate global capacity of 5.5 billion pounds of suspension PVC and 7.6 billion pounds of VCM.
The Wilhelmshaven acquisition follows Westlake’s January 2026 completion of its purchase of ACI Compounding Solutions, a Portugal-based manufacturer of specialty materials serving the wire and cable sectors. That deal, valued at approximately €210 million in annual net sales, expanded Westlake’s Housing & Infrastructure Products segment and added production sites in Mexico, Portugal, Romania, and Tunisia.
Regulatory approvals for the Wilhelmshaven transaction were not disclosed, but the deal closed without conditions. Westlake said the integration would proceed immediately, with no additional workforce reductions or plant closures tied to the acquisition.