“An IPO is always exciting.”

“An IPO is always exciting for everyone involved. After all, nobody knows how the company will be accepted on the trading floor, whether it will take off or flop. We were all understandably excited that day,” recalls CFO Oliver Stratmann with a grin. Oliver was an Investor Relations (IR) Manager at LANXESS at the time. 

Since the finance department had been established solely  for the carve-out, it was made up of many new colleagues. Stratmann also only joined a few months before the IPO.

And there was plenty of it. The spin-off, at the time, was one of the largest corporate carve-outs in Germany. With a tight schedule: In November 2003, the Bayer Group decided to spin off its chemicals activities and parts of its polymers business as a separate company. The IPO took place just 15 months later. This demanded a great deal of everyone involved. Behind the scenes, countless teams worked to turn the vision of LANXESS into reality. Finally, investors had to be convinced. 
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Team spirit makes all the difference

That was a large part of Stratmann's job: armed with piles of documents, the team traveled from one potential investor to the next. Whether in Frankfurt, London, New York, or Boston, pretty much everyone who was anyone in the industry received a visit from the LANXESS team at some point. It was not that easy to find potential investors, as the company started out on its independence, with a mountain of debt, and a portfolio of businesses with low margins. “The team always believed in LANXESS. Even back then, the company had a solid foundation, and the key figures in the spin-off report clearly showed that there was only one possible direction: up!” reports Stratmann. 

 

A prime example of a successful spin-off

The staff functions worked hard in the background, looking for the gems that would make the new company a shooting star on the Frankfurt trading floor. The team passed the test with flying colors. Demand for the shares was so high that the opening price, which should have been decided shortly before half past nine, was not released until 9:49 a.m. 

You can see from today's CFO how pleased he was with the successful launch of LANXESS back then.

The name LANXESS is well known in the industry today and is cited in some case studies as a prime example of a successful spin-off. The brand stands for quality; many products are leaders in their markets. The group still has big plans, Stratmann explains: “We wanted to continue to be successful – not only in managing a crisis, but also in questioning ourselves and growing, to be a strong cash-generating company in the specialty chemicals business!”