2017-11-15

LANXESS to acquire Solvay's US phosphorus additives business

  • Expansion of additives business in growth region North America
  • Acquisition of production site in Charleston, US, with roughly 90 employees and some EUR 65 million in sales
  • Focus on phosphorus-based specialty chemicals, e.g. flame-retardant additives

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS is expanding its Additives segment and plans to acquire the phosphorus chemicals business with a US production site from Belgian chemical group Solvay. Both companies have signed an agreement to this effect. The transaction is projected to conclude in the first half of 2018, subject to customary regulatory approvals. The acquisition fully complements LANXESS's strategy to grow its business in mid-sized markets and in the regions North America and Asia.

The site in Charleston, South Carolina, includes six production units, where roughly 90 employees manufacture phosphorus chloride plus numerous derivative products such as flame-retardants and intermediates for the agrochemical industry. The business represents annual sales of around EUR 65 million.

'With this acquisition, we are benefitting from a North American platform for phosphorus-based specialty chemicals - a key component of our additive business - and are able to further drive our growth in this key region,' said Anno Borkowsky, General Manager of the Additives business unit at LANXESS.

With annual sales of around EUR 2 billion and roughly 2,000 employees around the globe, the additives business is an important pillar of the LANXESS group.

Forward-Looking Statements
This company release contains certain forward-looking statements, including assumptions, opinions, expectations and views of the company or cited from third party sources. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause the actual results, financial position, development or performance of LANXESS AG to differ materially from the estimations expressed or implied herein. LANXESS AG does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this presentation or the actual occurrence of the forecast developments. No representation or warranty (expressed or implied) is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, any information, estimates, targets and opinions, contained herein, and no liability whatsoever is accepted as to any errors, omissions or misstatements contained herein, and accordingly, no representative of LANXESS AG or any of its affiliated companies or any of such person's officers, directors or employees accept any liability whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from the use of this document.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.7 billion in 2016 and about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through ARLANXEO, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, LANXESS is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber. LANXESS is listed in the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.

Lanxess AG published this content on 15 November 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 November 2017 06:04:06 UTC.

Original documenthttps://lanxess.com/en/corporate/media/press-releases/2017-00104e/

Public permalinkhttp://www.publicnow.com/view/E4028E31C81426A5F1A70E2882CDD1A7EC1DB93E