Norwegian conglomerate Orkla (ORK.OL) is in talks to sell its Elkem unit's silicon assets to China National BlueStar, in a deal set to be one of the biggest industrial takeovers by a Chinese group in Europe. Pizzas-to-metals conglomerate Orkla has been looking to streamline its portfolio and a sale has been widely expected. BlueStar, a state-run specialty chemicals company backed by U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N), would gain Elkem's low-emission smelting technology and silicon output at a time when the silicon market was strong.
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