Lonza Appoints Richard Ridinger As New CEO

04/03/2012| 01:48am US/Eastern

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Swiss chemicals company Lonza Group AG (LONN.VX) Tuesday said it has appointed Richard Ridinger as its new Chief Executive, effective May 1.

MAIN FACTS:

- Ridinger will take over CEO duties from Rolf Soiron, Lonza's chairman who has been acting chief executive since Stefan Borgas left the company at the end of January.

- Ridinger, 53, is a German national, and has extensive industrial leadership experience, Lonza said.

- "Ridinger is a chemical engineer who knows our industries, customers and products," said Soiron.

- Ridinger has held numerous leadership functions at Henkel AG & Co (>> Henkel AG & Co KGaA) for 14 years and Cognis for 11 years. Most recently, Ridinger was responsible for Care Chemicals, the largest sector at Cognis with approximately 3,000 employees. During his tenure, sales increased by 60% to ?1.75 billion over six years.

- As CEO of Lonza, Ridinger has been mandated with strengthening Lonza's market position in relevant markets, strengthening competitive capabilities, and productivity improvement in critical areas.

- Productivity improvement includes project "Visp Challenge", which is expected to contribute more than CHF 100 million over three years, and it also includes a review of group-wide structures.

-Zurich Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires, +41 43 443 80 47; zurichdjnews@dowjones.com

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