Lanxess AG is a German

specialty chemicals Specialty chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products that provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agr ...

company based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was founded in 2004 after

Bayer AG Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's ...

spun off its chemicals division and parts of its polymers business.

History

The company's roots trace back to 1863, with the founding of

. In November 2003, as part of a major restructuring, the Bayer Group decided to spin off a significant portion of its chemical activities, along with approximately one-third of its polymer business, into an independent entity. Lanxess internally established its new structure on 1 July 2004. In November 2004, at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Bayer AG in

Essen Essen () 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 Dortmund, as well as ...

, over 99 percent of the capital present voted in favor of the spin-off of Lanxess from Bayer. Lanxess AG shares were listed on Germany’s

DAX The DAX (''Deutscher Aktienindex'' (German stock index); ) is a stock market index consisting of the 40 major German blue chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It is a total return index. Prices are taken from the Xetra t ...

from 24 September 2012 to 21 September 2015, and are currently part of

MDAX The MDAX is a stock index which lists German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The index is calculated by . It includes the 50 Prime Standard shares that rank in size immediately below the companies included in the DAX index. T ...

, a mid-cap index. The company is also listed on the

Dow Jones Sustainability Index The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) launched in 1999, are a family of indices evaluating the sustainability performance of thousands of companies trading publicly, operated under a strategic partnership between S&P Dow Jones Indices and Ro ...

and FTSE4Good Index. In 2016, the company shifted its focus to the market for additives, specifically for lubricants and

fire retardant A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion. Fire retardants ...

s, through the acquisition of Chemtura and by placing its rubber business into a joint venture with

Aramco Saudi Aramco ( ') or Aramco (formerly Arabian-American Oil Company), officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company that is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. , it is the fourth- lar ...

. In February 2020, Lanxess acquired Brazilian biocide manufacturer Itibanyl Produtos Especiais Ltda. (IPEL). In July 2022, Lanxess finalized its acquisition of International Flavors & Fragrances' microbial control unit for US$1.3 billion.

Notes

External links

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{{Authority control Chemical companies of Germany Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Chemical companies established in 2004 German brands Manufacturing companies based in Cologne Multinational companies headquartered in Germany 2004 establishments in Germany Corporate spin-offs Former Bayer subsidiaries Companies in the MDAX