BlueStar acquires French chemical firm

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The China National BlueStar Corp. became China's largest European investor after acquiring Rhodia Group, a French specialty chemicals producer.

The acquisition by BlueStar, a subsidiary of state-owned ChemChina Group Corp., moves China's top organic silicon producer to third place internationally, with an annual output of 420,000 tons, Xinhua said Saturday.

BlueStar has total assets of about $2.5 billion while the Rhodia Group generated sales of about $6.4 billion in 2005, Xinhua said.

BlueStar earlier this year bought Adisseo Group, also based in France, the world's second largest producer of methionine, an animal feed supplement that enhances poultry breeding, Xinhua said.