PARIS (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 7, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Paris-based chemicals and plastics producer Arkema S.A. (BBB-/Stable/A-3) are unchanged after the group announced the €550 million (enterprise value) acquisition of the coating resins chemical activities of Cray Valley and the photocure activities of Sartomer, both subsidiaries of Total S.A. We believe these assets will benefit Arkema's business risk profile and think the transaction is well in line with the announced financial and business strategy. Since these activities increase the downstream integration of Arkema's acrylic monomers (to about 40% from 30%), we anticipate Arkema will benefit from lower profit cyclicality and higher margins; the acrylic acid production business is quite cyclical. In addition,
