LANXESS: Petroflex to become a wholly owned subsidiary

The tender offer by specialty chemicals group LANXESS AG (www.lanxess.com) for the remaining shares of Petroflex S.A. in Brazil has been met with great interest. Under the public tender offer to the minority stockholders LANXESS has acquired a further 27 percent of Petroflex shares, giving it a total interest of around 97 percent in the company. The offer period ended on October 16, 2008. This high acceptance rate enables LANXESS to acquire all the remaining shares by way of a squeeze-out and thus to become the sole owner of Petroflex. The success of the offer also means that Petroflex can be delisted from the stock exchange. The purchase price for the 27 percent of the share capital now acquired is equivalent to about EUR 60 million. In the tender offer, LANXESS had offered the minimum price which is required by law to be paid to holders of common shares. As previously announced the total price for 100 percent of the shares including net debt therefore amounts to about EUR 370 million.

Said LANXESS CEO Axel C. Heitmann: “I’m pleased with the positive response to our offer. Now that we are about to successfully complete the acquisition procedure, we can focus our energies on further integrating Petroflex into the Group.” The German based group purchased a majority shareholding in Petroflex earlier this year. This acquisition has allowed LANXESS, one of the leading global suppliers of synthetic rubbers, to significantly improve its presence in the South American region.

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In 2007 Petroflex had about 600 employees of its own and achieved sales equivalent to about EUR 535 million. The Group has three production sites in Brazil: Cabo (Federal State of Pernambuco), Duque de Caxias (Federal State of Rio de Janeiro) and Triunfo (Federal State of Rio Grande do Sul). Annual production capacity is approximately 440,000 metric tons. Petroflex manufactures a range of 70 elastomer products, from solution to emulsion rubbers. The rubber grades are used mainly in tire manufacture as well as in high-tech plastics. Around one-third of the output of Petroflex is exported to more than 70 countries.

In Brazil, LANXESS currently employs more than 400 people at its sites in São Paulo, Porto Feliz and São Leopoldo (excluding Petroflex). The acquisition of Petroflex makes Brazil the second most important country for LANXESS in the Americas region after the United States. All 13 of its business units are represented in Brazil.

LANXESS AG, Leverkusen, Germany

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