LANXESS completes acquisition of DSM Elastomers

The specialty chemicals group LANXESS has successfully completed the acquisition of DSM Elastomers. The antitrust authorities have granted the approvals that are necessary for completion. The transaction took economic effect on May 1, 2011.

LANXESS is paying EUR 310 million for the elastomer business of the Dutch company Royal DSM N.V. DSM Elastomers produces the synthetic rubber ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) under the brand name Keltan. LANXESS is financing the acquisition with existing liquidity.

"The successfully completed acquisition of this elastomer business is a further milestone on our growth path," said LANXESS CEO Axel C. Heitmann. "We will now start integrating this business into the Group. We warmly welcome the new employees to the LANXESS family."

DSM Elastomers, based in Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands, has roughly 420 employees worldwide. DSM Elastomers operates an EPDM facility with an annual capacity of 160,000 metric tons in Sittard-Geleen. An additional EPDM facility with a capacity of around 40,000 metric tons per year is located in Triunfo, Brazil. LANXESS plans to transfer the headquarters for the combined EPDM business from Marl (Germany) to Sittard-Geleen.

The Technical Rubber Products (TRP) business unit of LANXESS, headed by Guenther Weymans, will sell its EPDM products under the brand names Buna EP and Keltan. LANXESS currently produces EPDM at its sites in Marl, Germany, and Orange, United States.

More information: lanxess.com

LANXESS AG, Leverkusen, Germany