Lanxess Spin-Off Accomplished
The separation of Lanxess AG from the Bayer Group was accomplished in January with the entry of the spin-off of the new chemicals group in the commercial register for Bayer AG.
This completes the most fundamental restructuring in Bayer AG’s history. Bayer will in future concentrate on its growth- and innovation-driven core businesses in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. The portfolio of Lanxess comprises large parts of Bayer’s previous chemicals business and about one third of its former polymers business.
“Placing Lanxess on the stock market is a crucial part of Bayer’s strategic realignment. The preparations for the spin-off took little more than a year. This is a tremendous achievement, for which I would like to thank all employees on behalf of the entire Board of Management,” said Werner Wenning, CEO of Bayer AG.
By virtue of the spin-off, all the shares of Lanxess AG are being allotted to Bayer AG stockholders in the ratio of one Lanxess share for every ten Bayer shares held. For technical reasons the allotment will not take place until after the close of trading on Friday. The number of Lanxess shares to be allotted to each Bayer stockholder is dependent on the number of Bayer shares he or she holds at that time.
Stockholders who hold a number of Bayer shares not evenly divisible by ten will accordingly receive fractional rights to Lanxess shares; no stockholders’ rights can be exercised on the basis of these fractional rights. The depositary banks and Deutsche Bank will endeavor to arrange an offset of fractional rights among their owners. Further information on this is available from the depositary banks.
With 2003 sales of some EUR 6.3 billion (based on the Combined Financial Statements) and about 19,600 employees (as at September 30, 2004), Lanxess is among Europe’s largest chemical companies.
Source: Bayer AG
