Lanxess

LANXESS Aktiengesellschaft
legal form	Corporation
ISIN	DE0005470405
founding	July 1, 2004
Seat	Cologne , Germany
management	Matthias Zachert , CEO Stephanie Coßmann Michael Pontzen Hubert Fink Anno Borkowsky Matthias L. Wolfgruber, Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Number of employees	14,300
sales	6.8 billion euros (2019)
Branch	Chemical industry
Website	www.lanxess.de
As of December 31, 2019

The LANXESS Aktiengesellschaft , based in Cologne, is a specialty chemicals - Group . The group was created in 2004 through the spin-off of the chemical division and parts of the polymer division of Bayer AG . Lanxess' core business is the development, manufacture and sale of chemical intermediates, additives , specialty chemicals and plastics . Lanxess is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good. In terms of sales, Lanxess was the fifth-largest chemical company in Germany in 2017 . The company's shares are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and are part of the MDAX .

history

The company's roots go back to 1863, the year Bayer AG was founded . In November 2003, as part of a major restructuring, the Bayer Group decided to outsource large parts of its chemical activities and around a third of its polymer business to an independent company. On July 1, 2004, Lanxess positioned itself internally in the new structures. In November 2004, the extraordinary general meeting of Bayer AG took place in Essen. Over 99 percent of the capital present voted in favor of a spin-off of Lanxess from Bayer.

With the spin-off, all Bayer shareholders received one new Lanxess share free of charge for every ten Bayer shares. Axel Heitmann became CEO .

The name LANXESS is made up of the French word “ lancer ” (to get going, to launch) and the English word “ success ” (success).

Restructuring and redesign

Lanxess found itself in a difficult economic situation in its spin-off and start-up phase. However, a four-phase corporate strategy consolidated the company.

On 2 November 2005 Lanxess announced the spin-off of the business with fine chemicals in the Saltigo GmbH known. The subsidiary has been operating independently since April 2006. The Dorlastan business was sold to the Japanese company Asahi Kasei Fibers in 2006. The ISL-Chemie from Kürten , the pigment preparations and special coatings manufacturing, was for 20 million euros to the Swiss Berlac AG of Sissach sold. The Paper division was taken over in 2006 for EUR 88 million from the Finnish chemical company Kemira from Helsinki . In 2006 Lanxess sold the Textile Processing Chemicals business unit (excluding North America) to the Dutch investor Egeria for 54 million euros . The North American business was transferred to StarChem. In 2007 the 100 percent subsidiary Aliseca GmbH emerged from the former area of ​​technical services . The subsidiary Borchers GmbH, which produces additives for paints, emulsion and printing inks, was sold to the American OM Group . In June of the same year, Lanxess brought its subsidiary Lustran into a joint venture with the British chemical company Ineos Ltd. a. In September 2009 Ineos took over the Lanxess stake in full. In 2014, the group sold its wholly owned subsidiary Perlon-Monofil to the Serafin group of companies based in Munich. Effective January 1, 2015, LANXESS merged various business units and reduced the number of business units from 14 to 10.

Acquisitions

Phase 4 of the restructuring measures concerned acquisitions. The group increased its involvement in Asia and the emerging markets. With targeted investments and takeovers, Lanxess succeeded in repositioning itself in important business areas and strengthening its position.

At the end of 2006, Lanxess acquired a 50 percent stake from Dow Chemical in its chrome chemicals business in South Africa, Chrome International South Africa (CISA) in Newcastle.

In December 2007, the Brazilian chemical company Petroflex SA , a rubber producer , was taken over .

At the beginning of 2008 the company expanded its involvement in the USA and took over the laboratories of the ICOS Corporation. On February 16, 2009, Petroflex was renamed Lanxess Elastomeros do Brasil . With the purchase of two production plants for iron oxide pigments from the Chinese cooperation partner Jinzhou Chemicals Company Ltd in June 2008, the company expanded its Asian business for inorganic pigments.

On March 10, 2009, Lanxess opened a sales company in Moscow to manage business in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States . On June 8, 2009, Lanxess bought the Indian company Gwalior Chemical Industries Ltd for 82.4 million euros and also acquired the production facilities and businesses of Jiangsu Polyols Chemical Co Ltd (China). To strengthen the product portfolio, Lanxess took over a product line from Clariant in 2010 as well as parts of the primary accelerator business from Flexsys.

Mid-December 2010 bought Lanxess by the Dutch DSM , the business unit DSM Elastomers for 310 million euros. The acquisition was completed on May 1, 2011.

In 2011, the Rhein Chemie business unit bought Darmex SA from Argentina and the tire release agents business from Wacker Chemie AG. In the same year, the material protection business of the Swiss company Syngenta was bought in order to expand the global production network for biocides . The specialty chemicals group took over the American company Verichem. In 2011, Lanxess also took over the American company Unitex Chemical Corporation to strengthen its product portfolio for phthalate-free plasticizers.

On April 1, 2016, Lanxess founded a 50:50 joint venture with Saudi Aramco for synthetic rubber under the name ARLANXEO . At the beginning of August 2018 it was announced that Lanxess would like to exit this joint venture earlier than originally planned and is selling its stake to its previous partner Saudi Aramco. Subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities, this should be done by the end of 2018. Lanxess would like to use the proceeds of around 1.4 billion euros to repay debt.

On August 31, 2016, Lanxess completed the acquisition of the “Clean and Disinfect” business from the US chemical company Chemours , thereby expanding its portfolio in the material protection products segment.

In September 2016, Lanxess signed an agreement to acquire Chemtura . The acquisition of the US company was completed on April 21, 2017. Lanxess thus expanded its portfolio in the area of ​​flame retardants and lubricant additives and also acquired the urethanes and organometallic businesses.

At the end of 2018, Lanxess completed the sale of its remaining 50 percent stake in the rubber company Arlanxeo to Saudi Aramco.

Investments

In 2006 Lanxess opened a new plant for high-tech plastics in Wuxi, China . Shortly afterwards, an expanded production facility for rubber additives was also put into operation in India.

2007: Opening of a development center for high-tech plastics in Wuxi. The Group in the same year in the region built for around 30 million euros Gujarat in India a factory for the production of ion exchange resins for water treatment .

2008: Investment of around 400 million euros in a production facility for synthetic rubber in Singapore, which is to serve the Asian region. Also in 2008, the construction of a second plant to reduce climate-damaging nitrous oxide was built in Krefeld-Uerdingen. Inauguration in March 2009.

In 2010 Lanxess and the Taiwanese TSRC Corporation founded a joint venture in the Greater China region for the production of technical rubbers. Opening of the most modern plant in Asia for the production of ion exchangers for water treatment at the Indian site of Jhagadia. Investment in the construction of a production facility for leather chemicals in Guangzhou, China.

2011: Opening of a production facility for water treatment technology in Bitterfeld. At the beginning of October 2011, the group announced extensive investments in Brazil in order to benefit from the local boom in the auto industry. The new projects include the construction of two plants for plastics and rubber additives at the Porto Feliz site (State of São Paulo). On the one hand, the plastics Durethan (polyamide) and Pocan ( PBT ) are to be produced there from mid-2013 . On the other hand, a new plant is being built for heating bellows, which are used in the tire industry, and for rubber additives. A total of 30 million euros are to be invested. To expand the global production network for inorganic pigments, a plant for iron oxide red pigments will be built in Ningbo, China, by 2015.

2012: The plant in Jhagadia, India is expanded by three new production facilities. At the Lipetsk site, the Rhein Chemie Additives business unit starts building a plant for the production of rubber additives and release agents for the markets in Russia and the CIS, especially for the automotive and tire industries. The facility was opened in summer 2012. Start of construction of the world's largest EPDM rubber plant in China. The foundation stone for the world's largest Nd-PBR plant is laid in Singapore.

2013: Opening of a leather chemical plant in Changzhou, China. Rhein Chemie opens a new plant in Porto Feliz / Brazil. The butyl plant in Singapore goes into operation. At the Leverkusen site, the expansion of its cresol production is completed and a newly built reaction system and a second, 46 meter high distillation column are put into operation. With the expansion, around 20 percent additional capacity for the intermediate product cresol is available for the global market.

2014: Inauguration of a new plant for high-tech plastics in Porto Feliz, Brazil. The plant has an annual capacity of around 20,000 metric tons, and the total investment is around EUR 20 million. Completion of the expansion of the plant for chloroprene rubber of the Baypren brand at the Dormagen site. Commissioning of the new plant for polyamide plastics in Antwerp, Belgium. The world-scale plant for polyamide plastics is designed for an annual capacity of around 90,000 tons. The investment volume is 75 million euros. The main customer for lightweight plastics is the automotive industry. Expansion of the high-tech plastics plant in Gastonia, North Carolina, USA, to include a second production line. Strengthening of the production network for iron oxide pigments in China and expansion of the pigment plant still under construction in Ningbo with a mixing and grinding plant. In Leverkusen, the Liquid Purification Technology business unit is expanding the production facility for weakly acidic cation exchangers and at the same time opening a facility for the special filling and packaging of products for food applications.

2015: Opening of the new Nd -catalyzed butadiene rubber plant on the Jurong peninsula in southwest Singapore. In addition, Lanxess is investing 60 million euros in expanding the capacity of its fine chemicals subsidiary Saltigo. Due to the high demand in custom manufacturing, two multi-purpose production lines and a new container warehouse will be built from mid-2016.

2016: The production capacities for light-colored sulfur carriers at the locations in Mannheim and Kallo near Antwerp , Belgium, were expanded by around 20 percent.

2018: Lanxess founds CheMondis, an online B2B marketplace for chemicals.

initial public offering

Lanxess went public on January 31, 2005. The shares were first listed in trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the Prime Standard . In order to be able to calculate the DAX share index correctly, the company was listed on the DAX for a single day, which for the first time in its history comprised 31 stocks. The next day, the weighting of the Bayer Group was then recalculated using Lanxess' closing price. Lanxess was included in the MDAX in June 2005. From September 2012 to September 2015, the Lanxess AG share was listed in the DAX, then it was relegated to the MDAX .

Group overview

Former corporate headquarters in Leverkusen

Production facility in Krefeld

Current group structure

Overview

Lanxess has four operating segments, which in turn into different business areas ( business units split).

Advanced intermediates	Consumer Protection	Engineering materials	Specialty additives
Business areas: Advanced Industrial Intermediates Inorganic Pigments	Business areas: Liquid Purification Technologies Saltigo Material Protection Products	Business areas: High performance materials Urethane Systems	Business areas: Lubricant Additives Business Polymer additives Rhein Chemie

description

Advanced intermediates

The Advanced Intermediates segment consists of the Advanced Industrial Intermediates (AII) and Inorganic Pigments (IPG) business units and comprises all basic and fine chemicals businesses. The Organometallics (OMS) business line has also been part of the segment since April 2017.

Consumer Protection

The Consumer Protection segment brings together specialty chemicals that protect people and their environment in many areas of life. It is divided into the business areas Saltigo (SGO), Liquid Purification Technologies (LPT), and Material Protection Products (MPP).

Engineering materials

The Engineering Materials segment bundles the Group's plastics activities. The High Performance Materials (HPM) division offers technical plastic compounds. The Urethane Systems (URE) business unit combines the range of hot-cast prepolymers, special, aqueous urethane dispersions and polyester polyols. These are components for special polyurethanes that are used primarily in the construction, mining, oil / gas, sports and electronics industries.

Specialty additives

The Specialty Additives segment, which has existed since April 2017, includes the Rhein Chemie (RCH), Lubricant Additives Business (LAB) and Polymer Additives (PLA) business units . The flame retardant and lubricant additives business is anchored in the Lubricant Additives Business and Polymer Additives Business Units . The Rhein Chemie division manages the previous Lanxess business with rubber and color additives.

Group functions

The business units are in turn supported by 13 group functions . A group function has an advisory role for the business units and is a service provider in its own company. At Lanxess these are Corporate Accounting (ACC), Corporate Communications (COM), Corporate Controlling (CON), Corporate Development (DEV), dLX , Human Resources (HR), Production, Technology, Safety & Environment (PTSE), Information Technology ( IT), Treasury & Investor Relations (TIR), Legal & Compliance (LEX), Mergers & Acquisitions (MA), Global Procurement & Logistics (GPL) and Tax & Trade Compliance (TTC).

Locations

Lanxess is represented in 33 countries worldwide.

German locations

• Cologne - company headquarters of Lanxess AG in the Lanxess Tower ; 1,000 employees on 38,500 square meters
• Berlin - liaison office with politics, media, associations, embassies, trade unions, research institutes and NGOs
• Leverkusen - Largest production site with over 3,000 employees; Production of: basic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, pesticides, paint and varnish raw materials, water purification products, plastic additives and leather chemicals; ARLANXEO produces synthetic rubber here
• Uerdingen - second largest production location with over 1,700 employees; Headquarters of the Inorganic Pigments Business Unit; Production of: color pigments, plastics and chemical intermediates
• Dormagen - third largest production site with around 900 employees; Produces synthetic rubber
• Dortmund - headquarters of the subsidiary IMD Natural Solutions
• Bitterfeld - headquarters of the subsidiary IAB Ionenaustauscher GmbH
• Brilon - headquarters of the Bond-Laminates subsidiary
• Mannheim - headquarters of the Rhein Chemie business unit; Additives and specialty chemicals are produced
• Brunsbüttel - production site with around 90 employees
• Hamm-Uentrop - The joint venture with DuPont DuBay Polymer GmbH produces the polymer polybutylene terephthalate here with around 120 employees
• Bergkamen - production of organometallic compounds

management

Board

Supervisory board

Matthias Zachert (CEO) Hubert Fink Michael Pontzen (Chief Financial Officer) Stephanie Coßmann (Labor Director) Anno Borkowsky

Shareholder representatives Matthias L. Wolfgruber, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Friedrich Janssen, former Member of the board of E.ON Ruhrgas AG Lawrence A. Rosen, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Post Pamela Knapp, Former Chief Financial Officer of the Society for Consumer Research (GFK) Nuremberg Heike Hanagarth, management consultant Theo H. Walthie, independent consultant Employee representatives Werner Czaplik, Chairman of the LANXESS General Works Council Ralf Sikorski, member of the executive board of IG BCE, Hanover Hans-Dieter Gerriets, Operations Manager and Chairman of the Group Spokesperson Committee for senior executives at LANXESS AG Thomas Meiers, district manager of IG BCE, Cologne Manuela Strauch, Chairwoman of the LANXESS Works Council at the Uerdingen site Birgit Bierther, Chairwoman of the LANXESS Works Council in Cologne

In May 2019 it became known that the former CDU Federal Managing Director Klaus Schüler was moving to Lanxess as the Executive Board representative for national and international political relations.

Key figures, economic situation

Lanxess key figures
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Revenue (in € million)	6,773	7.150	6,944	6,608	6,576	5,057	7,100	8,775	9.094	8,300	8.006	7.902	7,699	6,530	7,197	6,802
EBITDA	447	581	675	719	722	465	918	1,146	1,223	735	808	885	995	925	1,016	910
Group result	−12	−63	197	112	183	40	379	506	514	−159	47	165	192	87	431	205
Employees (annual average)						14,472	14,475	15,849	16,962	17,430	16,584	16,225	16,721	19,029	15,441	15,479

In 2012 sales increased by 4 percent to 9.1 billion euros. The operating profit before special items (Ebitda) was 1.2 billion euros.

In 2013 Lanxess had to cut its profit targets significantly. One reason was declining new car sales in Europe. The share price, which had reached a high of EUR 68.99 in February, fell to EUR 43.03 in July 2013.

In January 2014, Heitmann's departure from Lanxess was announced. He was replaced on April 1, 2014 by Matthias Zachert , previously a member of the Executive Board and CFO at Merck KGaA . With the announcement of Zachert's move, the price of the Lanxess share rose by over 8%, while the price of the Merck share, which is also listed in the DAX, fell by around 10%.

In 2015, as a result of the Lanxess realignment, EBITDA pre exceptionals improved by around ten percent to EUR 885 million, with sales almost stable at EUR 7.9 billion.

Mainly due to the adjustment of sales prices to the lower raw material costs, sales in the 2016 financial year fell slightly to 7.7 billion euros. Lanxess EBITDA and the group result increased compared to the previous year.

The sales development in 2017 was particularly shaped by the sales contribution from the acquired Chemtura business units. In addition, the raw material price-driven adjustment of sales prices and the increase in sales volumes had a positive effect.

Product portfolio

The core business is the development, manufacture and sale of intermediate products, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics.

Share of sales by industry (2018) Share of annual sales
automobile	approx. 20%
chemistry	approx. 30%
Agrochemistry	approx. 10%
Construction, electrical, leather products	approx. 20%
Others (in total)	approx. 20%

Cologne commitment

LANXESS headquarters in Cologne

For Lanxess, the commitment to education is one of the central issues of corporate policy. Lanxess relies on well-trained and highly qualified employees for growth. LANXESS therefore launched its education initiative in 2008. The company thus supports schools at the production sites.

In addition, the company is committed to its environment. The group headquarters moved to the former Lufthansa high-rise in Cologne-Deutz in September 2013.

The Cologne-based company has been supporting the Cologne Philharmonic since 2008 . Lanxess has also been the main partner of lit.Cologne , an international literature festival that takes place in Cologne , since 2010 . It initiated an international philosophy festival , Phil.Cologne , which is also known as the little sister of lit.COLOGNE.

Web links

Commons : Lanxess  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• LANXESS Aktiengesellschaft website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Annual Report 2019. Accessed March 23, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Imprint of lanxess.de
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Lanxess website: At a glance. Accessed January 2018.
4. ↑ Lanxess website: History
5. ↑ NewCo becomes "LANXESS"
6. ↑ Press release from August 6, 2014
7. ↑ LANXESS continues to grow
8. ↑ Press release from January 12, 2011
9. ^ Press release from July 8, 2011
10. ^ Press release from March 1, 2011
11. ^ Press release from October 12, 2011
12. ↑ LANXESS and Saudi Aramco complete the establishment of their joint venture. In: chemie.de. April 5, 2016, accessed January 5, 2018 . 
13. ↑ Saudi Aramco takes over rubber business from Lanxess Wirtschaftswoche wiwo.de on August 8, 2018, accessed on August 14, 2018
14. ↑ Lanxess: Acquisition of the disinfection division of Chemours completed. In: chemietechnik.de. September 1, 2016, accessed January 5, 2018 . 
15. ↑ Lanxess completes acquisition of Chemtura. In: chemietechnik.de. April 24, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2018 . 
16. ↑ Lanxess completes sale of Arlanxeo. In: Kölnische Rundschau. January 2, 2019, accessed June 4, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Press release from December 9, 2010 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
18. ↑ Press release from September 16, 2011  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ^ Press release from October 26, 2010
20. ^ Press release from April 16, 2013
21. ↑ Press release from June 4, 2013
22. ^ Press release from November 15, 2013
23. ↑ Press release from September 26, 2014
24. ↑ Lanxess opens new rubber plant in Singapore. In: process.vogel.de. September 8, 2015, accessed January 9, 2018 . 
25. ↑ Lanxess is investing 60 million euros in Chempark in Leverkusen. In: rp-online.de. November 6, 2015, accessed January 9, 2018 . 
26. ↑ Lanxess is expanding production capacities for light-colored sulfur carriers at two locations. In: chemie.de. May 25, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2018 . 
27. ↑ New LANXESS startup: Online marketplace CheMondis launched successfully. Retrieved July 25, 2019 . 
28. ↑ LANXESS is included in the German leading index DAX. , Lanxess News, accessed September 24, 2012.
29. ↑ Company organization: Segments. Accessed March 23, 2020
30. ↑ The Advanced Intermediates segment on the company website.Retrieved March 23, 2020
31. ↑ The Consumer Protection segment on the company website.Retrieved March 23, 2020
32. ↑ The Engineering Materials segment on the company website.Retrieved March 23, 2020
33. ↑ The Specialty Additives segment on the company website.Retrieved March 23, 2020
34. ↑ More about LANXESS - LANXESS. Retrieved February 8, 2019 . 
35. ↑ German locations. In: lanxess.de. Retrieved May 25, 2018 . 
36. ↑ Lanxess website: Corporate Governance - Executive Board
37. ↑ Lanxess website: Corporate Governance - Supervisory Board
38. ↑ FOCUS Online: CDU Federal Managing Director Klaus Schüler changes to Lanxess. Retrieved May 22, 2019 . 
39. ↑ ^{a b c d} Lanxess annual reports 2004 to 2019 Retrieved on March 23, 2020
40. ^ Press release from March 21, 2013
41. ↑ Rheinische Post August 7, 2013 (print edition) / August 6 (online)
42. ↑ Lanxess turns the wheel around - the Heitmann era comes to an end. In: welt.de of January 27, 2014
43. ↑ Lanxess education initiative ( Memento from February 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
44. ↑ Lanxess Tower inaugurated in Cologne
45. ↑ Lanxess' website on local commitment ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '12.9 "  N , 6 ° 58' 17.7"  E