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Bayer transfers ownership of Bushy Park industrial community to new subsidiary

Jul. 1, 2004
Charleston Post and Courier
By Christine Robinson
Global chemical and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG has transferred ownership of its Bushy Park industrial community to a new subsidiary the company plans to spin off next year.

Bayer launched the new subsidiary, Lanxess Corp., in the United States on Thursday and transferred management of the park to a committee comprised of the human resources director and heads of three Lanxess operations -- Paper Processing Chemicals, Rubber Chemicals and Dorlastan Fibers LLC.

A company statement said former manager David R. Smith "has elected to leave Bayer to pursue other interests. David has made significant contributions to Bayer's businesses during his career of 25 years."

Plant spokesman Jim Miller said the company's 400 employees at the park will not see any major changes because of the transfer.

"For Bushy Park and the Charleston area, the only changes anyone will notice are different signs hung up outside and a change in the letterhead of the business," Miller said. "We are keeping all of the staff, and the employees simply become part of Lanxess."

Bushy Park, located near Goose Creek, was started as an industrial site in 1970 and is home to units of Sun Chemical, Agfa and Symrise in addition to the Lanxess operations.

"Lanxess is the landlord of the facilities," Miller said. "We formed a committee that we are all on to decide issues about keeping the facilities good and clean and safety issues and hurricane preparedness, things to make sure that we're good neighbors."

According to Bayer's latestnual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the German company is combining most of its chemicals division with portions of its polymers operations to create Lanxess. Once the various business units are combined, Bayer plans to spin off Lanxess as a separate publicly traded company.

"There is no doubt in my mind that both companies -- Bayer and Lanxess -- will benefit from the separation," said Bayer chairman Werner Wenning. "While Bayer's future core portfolio comprises primarily research-intensive growth businesses, the portfolio of Lanxess consists mostly of cost-driven businesses operating in more mature markets."

Parent company Bayer AG reported a loss of 1.7 billion euros, or about $2 billion, on sales of 36 billion euros, or about $43.8 billion, in its latest fiscal year.

While the global operations of Lanxess Corp. had a 2.1 percent decline in sales in 2003, Lanxess spokesman Earl Bohn said the company is confident of the company's strength and expects sales to exceed $1 billion in the next year.

"The U.S. portion of Lanxess will now have an opportunity to have a smaller universe of more common markets," Bohn said. "It will now be able to focus more time and energy on the specific needs of the different areas."
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