PITTSBURGH, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The planned acquisition by the Bayer
Group of the polyols business of Lyondell Chemical Company (NYSE: LYO) of the
United States has moved a major step closer with the announcement in Brussels
by the Commission of the European Union that it has no objection to the deal.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has already given its go-ahead.
Welcoming the news from Brussels, Dr. Hans-Joachim Kaiser, General Manager
of Bayer's Polyurethanes Business Group, said: "This is another important
precondition for the acquisition of Lyondell's polyols business, which will
make us the leading manufacturer of polyurethane raw materials. Our customers
will then be able to obtain all components from a single source, and it is in
their interests that we now complete the next steps towards the acquisition as
quickly as possible."
The two sides announced the plan for Bayer to acquire the polyols business
in November 1999. The total price of the acquisition is $2.45 billion.
Polyols are raw materials used in the production of polyurethanes, a group
of foams with a wide variety of applications, chiefly in the electronics
industry, in heat and cold insulation, construction of technical parts, the
furniture industry and in the fields of sport and leisure. The global
polyurethanes market is growing at a rate of between four and five percent per
year.
Bayer's Polyurethanes Business Group has 19 production sites around the
world, global sales of over $2 billion a year and more than 4,800 employees.
Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in
health care and lifesciences and chemicals. The company had 1998 sales of
$8.1 billion and employs more than 23,000 people. Bayer Corporation is
investing $15 billion in capital expenditures and research and development
from 1995 through the year 2004. 1999 capital investment and R&D expenditures
are projected to total $1.6 billion. Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in
Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $31 billion
international life sciences, polymers and specialty chemicals group based in
Leverkusen, Germany.
SOURCE Bayer Corporation
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