In transition
Editor: Kerstin Stenger
This is LANXESS
A company in transformation
Since 2015, LANXESS has been systematically driving forward the transformation of the Group: away from the volatile commodity business and toward demand-stable and profitable specialty chemicals.
High-margin and cyclically stable businesses were acquired, and the volatile rubber business was spun off. Since then, the Group has become significantly more profitable, stable and competitive and has a large portfolio of high-performance specialty chemicals.
Consumer Protection as a new pillar in the Group
The Consumer Protection segment was launched. It has now been established as a new strong pillar in the Group.
The Consumer Protection segment now comprises:
- Preservatives,
- Flavorings and fragrances,
- roducts and technologies for water and liquid media treatment,
- material protection solutions,
- custom manufacturing for agricultural, pharmaceutical and specialty chemical companies, and
- Saltidin® , one of the world's leading active ingredients for insect repellents.
Broad-based
The first acquisition, in the Consumer Protection segment, of the disinfection specialist Chemours in 2016 supported the realignment. The new segment received a strong boost with the second-largest acquisition in the company's history: Emerald Kalama Chemical. This acquisition strengthened LANXESS's position, particularly in the beverages and food sector and in cleaning and cosmetic products.
Today, LANXESS is a leading supplier of flavor and fragrance products. The substances are used primarily in personal care products, cosmetics, exclusive fragrances, and food and beverages. The product range includes more than 30 aroma substances that provide earthy, floral, fruity or even spicy-tart notes.
"We are strengthening our position in markets with attractive growth rates and opening up new high-margin application areas, especially in the beverage and food sector and in cleaning and cosmetic products sectors. What's more, Emerald Kalama Chemical is perfectly backward integrated – strengthening our value chain in Consumer Protection. This segment is an important engine on the way to making LANXESS even more stable and profitable.”
“With this acquisition we receive another major boost for our Consumer Protection segment. It will soon become our strongest segment and is an important engine on the way to make LANXESS even more stable and profitable.”
Expanding and cooperating
In addition to the acquisitions, LANXESS also invested in its own facilities. In Krefeld , the production capacity for Preventol was expanded by, 50 percent. Cooperation agreements were also concluded, for example with Matrica. Matrica has been supplying LANXESS with biobased raw materials from vegetable oils since 2022. LANXESS is using them to manufacture a new product series of industrial preservatives and is expanding its Preventol® range.
Here's how it currently looks
“The good figures in 2022 show that our strategy is taking us in the right direction. In turbulent times, we are much more stable than before thanks to our focus on less cyclical specialty chemicals. Midway through the year, we strengthened our Consumer Protection segment again by acquiring the Microbial Control business from IFF, and this has already paid off in the past quarter. However, we have already seen waning demand in some areas and an overall decline in the volume sold. In the fourth quarter, the headwind will blow even stronger due to further rises in energy prices and the threat of recession,” says Matthias Zachert.
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