Lanxess
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| Aktiengesellschaft (Public) | |
| Traded as | : LXS |
| Industry | Chemicals |
| Predecessor | Bayer AG |
| Founded | July 1, 2004 |
| Headquarters | Cologne, Germany |
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Key people
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| Products | polymers, intermediates and Specialty chemicals |
| Revenue |
 €8.300 billion (2013)EBITDA (pre-exceptional items): €735 billion (2013) |
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€93 million (2013)
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€-159 million (2013)
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Number of employees
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17,343 (2013) |
| Website | www.lanxess.com |
Lanxess Aktiengesellschaft (styled as LANXESS) is a specialty chemicals group based in Cologne, Germany. The group was founded in 2004 with the spin-off of the chemicals division and parts of the polymers segment from Bayer AG. Lanxess' core business is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. The company is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good Index. Lanxess is the ninth largest chemicals group in Germany in terms of sales. Shares in Lanxess AG were listed in Germany’s DAX from September 24, 2012 to September 21, 2015 and currently form part of MDAX, a midcap index.
The company’s roots date back to 1863, the year Bayer AG was founded. In November 2003, the Bayer Group decided to divest major sections of its chemical operations and around a third of its polymer business into an independent company as part of a major realignment. Lanxess was founded with new internal structures on July 1, 2004. An extraordinary Bayer Stockholders’ Meeting was convened in Essen in November 2004. More than 99 percent of the capital represented at the meeting voted for the spin-off of Lanxess from Bayer.
All Bayer stockholders were given one Lanxess share for every 10 Bayer shares owned when the spin-off occurred.
The name Lanxess is a combination of the French word “lancer” (meaning to launch) with the English word “success.”
Lanxess faced difficult economic circumstances to begin with, but a four-phase corporate strategy managed to overcome these to steer it onto a steady course.
Phase 1: Rapid improvement of performance levels using short-term measures. The goal of this phase was to reduce internal costs and improve the company’s performance.
Phase 2: Targeted restructuring and realignment of low-margin and loss-making lines of business. The goal here was to return loss-making businesses to maximum possible profitability.
Phase 3: Active portfolio management focusing on profitable business. The third phase involved portfolio adjustments – running Lanxess like a chemicals business-based investment portfolio, in which the market drives the decisions.
Phase 4: Acquisitions. Targeted acquisitions were undertaken in addition to continuous organic growth.
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Wikipedia