LANXESS Continues on Path of Growth       

The specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG is placing special focus on speeding the pace of its expansion in the BRIC countries. Along with the successful growth projects in Brazil, India and China, LANXESS is therefore now preparing to enter the Russian market, according to LANXESS Board of Management Chairman Axel C. Heitmann at the group's third International Media Day in Cologne.
    In the New Year the Group will launch its own company in Russia. The first step will be to open a branch in Moscow to build a platform for further involvement in the CIS countries. The Russian chemicals market is growing at a rate in excess of 5% a year. LANXESS considers annual sales growth of up to 20% a realistic prospect.
    LANXESS anticipates a particularly positive medium-term trend in key customer markets such as the automotive industry (+9% annually), the electrical and electronics sector (+5%) and the construction industry (+8%). Currently in especially high demand in Russia are LANXESS's high-tech rubbers, rubber chemicals and ion exchange resins. The new company, based in Moscow, begins operating on January 1st, 2009.
   LANXESS is also strengthening its site in Antwerp. Some EUR 35 million is to be invested to increase the capacity of the caprolactam production facility of the Semi-Crystalline Products business unit by 10% by 2010. Thus the company is further expanding its polyamide business. At present the plant supplies approximately 200 000 tons of this key starting material for high-tech plastics per year.
   The group will have invested a total of EUR 1 billion worldwide by 2009, with over half of this amount spent at the main German sites. LANXESS has already earmarked some EUR 250 million for further investment projects in Germany in the coming years. The fact that the company is profitably aligned in Germany, too, again underscores the country's strategic significance for the global competitiveness of the entire Group.
   The third pillar of the growth strategy is to focus on innovations in terms of both new products and process technology. LANXESS currently has over 100 projects in its research pipeline that are expected to have a sales potential of around EUR 700 million by 2011.
   LANXESS also said the group was not directly affected by the current crisis on the financial markets. The favorable credit facilities will safeguard its long-term liquidity through 2014.