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Evonik Industries AG is a stock-listed German specialty chemicals company headquartered in
Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
, Germany. It is the second largest
chemicals A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...
company in Germany, and one of the largest specialty chemicals companies in the world. It is predominantly owned by the RAG Foundation and was founded on 12 September 2007 as a result of
restructuring Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...
of the mining and technology group
RAG Rag, rags, RAG or The Rag may refer to: Common uses * Rag, a piece of old cloth * Rags, tattered clothes * Rag (newspaper), a publication engaging in tabloid journalism * Rag paper, or cotton paper Arts and entertainment Film * ''Rags'' (1915 ...
. Evonik Industries united the business areas of
chemicals A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...
,
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
and
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
of RAG, while mining operations continue to be carried out by RAG. Since then, the energy and real estate business areas have been divested, with no share being held in the former and a minority share still being held in the latter. Its specialty chemicals business generates around 80% of sales in areas in which it holds leading market positions. Evonik Industries employs about 37,000 people and carries out activities in more than 100 countries. The operating activities are organized into six business units which are a part of the chemicals business area. Evonik is the main sponsor of German
football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...
.


History


World War II and involvement in the Holocaust

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, one of Degussa's ''(Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt,'' "German Gold and Silver Refining") subsidiaries,
Degesch The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung mbH (), oft shortened to Degesch, was a German chemical corporation which manufactured pesticides. Degesch held the patent on the infamous pesticide Zyklon, a variant of which was used to execu ...
(translation: German Corporation for Pest control), was the main manufacturer and distributor of the chemical
Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...
, which was used to murder people in gas chambers of German extermination and concentration camps during the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. Furthermore, gold dental fillings, which had been forcefully removed from the mouths of concentration-camp inmates, had been processed by Degussa. The company's partnership
Deutsche Gasrusswerke Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym * Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic v ...
(DGW) employed Jewish slave laborers at
Gleiwitz concentration camp Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the re ...
, a subcamp of Auschwitz. Degussa estimated its war losses at 111 million
Reichsmarks The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reichs ...
, almost
USD$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
0.5 billion in 2012 dollars. In 1998, Degussa requested the American historian Peter Hayes to clarify the company history during the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. While constructing the
Holocaust Memorial A number of organizations, museums and monuments are intended to serve as memorials to the Holocaust, the Nazi Final Solution, and its millions of victims. Memorials and museums listed by country: __NOTOC__ A - D: #Albania, Albania#Argentina, A ...
in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, it became public that the
plasticizer A plasticizer ( UK: plasticiser) is a substance that is added to a material to make it softer and more flexible, to increase its plasticity, to decrease its viscosity, and/or to decrease friction during its handling in manufacture. Plasticiz ...
and the
anti-graffiti coating An anti-graffiti coating is a coating that prevents graffiti paint from bonding to surfaces. Cleaning graffiti off buildings costs billions of dollars annually. Many cities have started anti-graffiti programs but vandalism is still a problem. Comp ...
of the memorial were produced by Degussa, resulting in a pause of the construction works until the matter is clarified. In November 2003 the memorial's trustees decided to finish the building with the involvement of Degussa.


After World War II

In 2006, RAG acquired Degussa AG, which was later renamed Evonik-Degussa GmbH. Historically, Evonik Industries' businesses were part of RAG activities. The idea of splitting the company was put forward in 2005. The background of this idea was that RAG's core business of
coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
is carried out under government contract in Germany, while businesses transferred to Evonik compete in international markets. This structure did not permit the payment of dividends to the shareholders, which limited shareholders' readiness to inject equity into the RAG, which thereby restricted the company's ability to access fresh capital. As the first step, RAG's shareholders sold their shares to RAG foundation (RAG-Stiftung) to split RAG. The Foundation was established on 10 July 2007, and Evonik Industries was created on 12 September 2007. The original plan foresaw the
IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
of Evonik Industries in the first half of 2008. However, this plan was postponed until mid-2010 at the earliest, and the RAG Foundation started to look for strategic investors, while still holding on to the plans for a midterm IPO. In June 2008, the private equity firm
CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based French private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately US$133 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, E ...
bought a stake of 25.01% in the company. Among many other private equity investors who bid for the stake (amongst them
Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...
and 3i), Russian
Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...
was reported to have considered buying a stake in Evonik Industries. The IPO, by now planned for fall of 2011, was once again postponed in September 2011, this time citing the "current state of financial and capital markets and their prospects." RAG Foundation had planned for Evonik's IPO to take place in 2012, but this was postponed as a result of poor market conditions. Evonik shares have been traded on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Locat ...
since 25 April 2013. Prior to the IPO the company had given institutional investors the opportunity to acquire around 14% of the shares for €2 billion. Since 5 March 2015, the shareholding structure of the Evonik Industries AG is composed as follows: * 67,9%:
RAG Rag, rags, RAG or The Rag may refer to: Common uses * Rag, a piece of old cloth * Rags, tattered clothes * Rag (newspaper), a publication engaging in tabloid journalism * Rag paper, or cotton paper Arts and entertainment Film * ''Rags'' (1915 ...
Foundation * 14,0%: Gabriel Acquisitions GmbH (a company owned by funds advised by
CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based French private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately US$133 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, E ...
) * 18,1%: Free float


2012 cyclododecatriene plant fire

In March 2012, a fire at the Degussa plant in
Marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...
, stopped production of
cyclododecatriene Cyclododecatrienes are cyclic trienes with the formula C12H18. Four isomers are known for 1,5,9-cyclododecatriene. The ''trans'',''trans'',''cis''-isomer is a precursor in the production of nylon-12. : Production The ''trans'',''trans'',''cis'' ...
(CDT) for a duration of several months. The plant produced a substantial proportion of the world's production of CDT, particularly that needed to produce
laurolactam Laurolactam is an organic compound from the group of macrocyclic lactams. Laurolactam is mainly used as a monomer in engineering plastics, such as nylon-12 and copolyamides.T. Schiffer, G. Oenbrink: ''Cyclododecanol, Cyclododecanone, and Laurolacta ...
, a precursor to the
polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...
PA12. This shortage in turn led to concerns for global production of finished goods, particularly in the automotive industry. Biobased polyamides, not dependent on laurolactam or CDT, have been put forward as alternative materials.


Operations

Evonik divested its former holdings in the areas of energy and real estate and now focuses on the core business of specialty chemicals.


Chemicals Business Area

The Chemicals Business Area of Evonik emerged from Evonik Degussa GmbH (formerly Degussa GmbH — an acronym of ''Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt'' (''German Gold and Silver Separating Works'')) based in
Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
, Germany. It employs about 34,000 people and is one of the world's largest producers of specialty chemicals. It includes six business units: Advanced Intermediates, Consumer Specialties, Coatings & Additives, Inorganic Materials, Health & Nutrition and Performance Polymers. Degussa was acquired by RAG in 2006. Its latest acquisition is the Tippecanoe Labs plant site at
Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...
from
Eli Lilly Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was an American soldier, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and r ...
on 1 January 2010. In November, a plant for the production of DL-
methionine Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical ro ...
was opened in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. At a cost of €500 million, it is the largest investment to date in the chemical sector in the company's history. In June 2014, the Supervisory Board resolved to restructure the Group, with plans for the six chemical segments to be bundled into three GmbH (limited liability) companies from 2015.


Energy Business Area

The former energy business portion of Evonik was operated through Evonik Steag GmbH (formerly STEAG), which is the fifth largest power company in Germany, based in
Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
. The company operates fourteen
hard coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the high ...
-fired power plants, of which eleven are located in Germany, and one in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, one in
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and one in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, and two industrial power plants. It also operates in the field of transport, processing and distribution of hard coal, coke and byproducts from coal processing, as well as in the field of gas supply, transport and trading. In December 2010 Evonik Industries signed an agreement to sell 51% of shares in its energy business to a consortium of municipal utilities in Germany's
Rhine-Ruhr The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...
region. The agreement was finalized on 2 March 2011. The remaining 49% were acquired by the consortium for €570 million in August 2014.


Real Estate Business Area

Evonik Immobilien GmbH used to manage around 60,000 company-owned residential units in Germany. In addition, it had a 50% stake in TreuHandStelle GmbH, which manages more than 70,000 residential units. Evonik Immobilien GmbH was amalgamated with TreuHandStelle GmbH and placed on a more independent basis in the medium term. As per the resolution of the general meeting held on 25 November 2011, the name of the subsidiary Evonik Immobilien GmbH was changed to Vivawest GmbH. On 1 January 2012 Vivawest merged with residential management company THS under the name ''Vivawest''. In 2013, Evonik sold the majority of its shares in Vivawest to the RAG Foundation, the Evonik pension fund, and the coal mining corporation RAG AG. Evonik now holds only 10.9%, and there are plans to sell this stake too.


Corporate responsibility

Evonik Industries is a member of the
United Nations Global Compact The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a princ ...
. The annual CR report of Evonik Industries is based on the standards of the
Global Reporting Initiative The Global Reporting Initiative (known as GRI) is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their impacts on issues such as climate change, human righ ...
. Evonik is also a founder member of the Together for Sustainability initiative, focused in promoting sustainability practices across the chemical industry's supply chains, and whose president is the current CPO of the company, Rüdiger Eberhard.


Sponsorship

* Evonik has been the main shirt sponsor of
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...
(BVB) since the 2007/2008 season. Beginning with the 2020/2021 season, Evonik will be the shirt sponsor for only international events. * Evonik was one of the sponsors of the
World Chess Championship 2008 The World Chess Championship 2008 was a best-of-twelve-games match between the incumbent World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, and the previous World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik had been granted a match after ...
* On 17 May 2011, as part of a charity football match between Borussia Dortmund and an all-star team from Japan, Evonik donated €1 million to a children's home situated in the Tohoku/Ichinoseki-shi earthquake zone which was destroyed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. * Evonik is the main sponsor of the Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation, a non-profit organization which conducts deep-sea research in the Azores using a submersible.


See also

*
RAG Rag, rags, RAG or The Rag may refer to: Common uses * Rag, a piece of old cloth * Rags, tattered clothes * Rag (newspaper), a publication engaging in tabloid journalism * Rag paper, or cotton paper Arts and entertainment Film * ''Rags'' (1915 ...


References


External links


Evonik Industries website
{{Authority control Electric power companies of Germany Companies based in Essen Chemical companies of Germany CVC Capital Partners companies Companies involved in the Holocaust German companies established in 1873 Multinational companies headquartered in Germany Companies in the MDAX