History
The roots of the company go back to 1863, the year Bayer AG was founded. In November 2003, as part of a major restructuring, the Bayer Group decided to spin off large parts of its chemical activities and around a third of its polymer business into an independent company. [3]
On 1 July 2004 Lanxess positioned itself internally in the new structures. In November 2004, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Bayer AG took place in Essen. Over 99 percent of the capital present voted for Lanxess to be spun off from Bayer. [4]
Shares in Lanxess AG were listed in Germany’s DAX from 24 September 2012 to 21 September 2015, and form part of MDAX, a midcap index. The company is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good Index.
In 2016, the company began to focus on the market for additives for lubricants and fire retardants by acquiring Chemtura and placing its rubber business into a joint venture with Aramco. [5] [6] [7]
In February 2020, Lanxess acquired Brazilian biocide manufacturer Itibanyl Produtos Especiais Ltda. (IPEL). [8]
In July 2022, Lanxess completed its acquisition of International Flavors & Fragrances' microbial control unit for US$1.3 billion. [9]
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Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a Fortune 500 corporation. The company is the world's leading producer of acetic acid, producing about 1.95 million tonnes per year, representing approximately 25% of global production. Celanese is also the world's largest producer of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM).
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Great Lakes Chemical Corporation was a chemical research, production, sales and distribution company that produced specialty chemicals used for polymers, fire suppressants and retardants, pool and spa water purification systems and various other applications. In 2005, Great Lakes merged with Crompton Corporation to become Chemtura. In 2017, Chemtura was purchased by LANXESS.
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Arkema S.A. is a publicly listed, multi-national manufacturer of specialty materials, headquartered in Colombes, near Paris, France. It has three specialty materials segments ; adhesives, advanced materials and coatings. A further segment covers chemical intermediates.
Bayer AG 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 areas of business include: pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare products, agricultural chemicals, seeds and biotechnology products. The company is a component of the EURO STOXX 50 stock market index.
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Specialty chemicals are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agrichemicals, cleaning materials, colors, cosmetic additives, construction chemicals, elastomers, flavors, food additives, fragrances, industrial gases, lubricants, paints, polymers, surfactants, and textile auxiliaries. Other industrial sectors such as automotive, aerospace, food, cosmetics, agriculture, manufacturing, and textiles are highly dependent on such products.
China National Chemical Corporation, commonly known as ChemChina, is a Chinese state-owned chemical company in the product segments of agrochemicals, rubber products, chemical materials and specialty chemicals, industrial equipment, and petrochemical processing for the civilian and military sectors. As of 2020, it is ranked 164th among the Fortune Global 500 companies.
€7.2B (2018) [1] 
€464 million (2016)
