Evonik reorganizes Coating & Adhesive Resins Business Line
Evonik is reorganizing two business lines to strengthen their growth prospects. These include the Coating & Adhesive Resins Business Line, which will be concentrated on the core business in order to focus investments on it in the future.
Various solutions are being implemented for Evonik's non-core businesses. The majority are to be sold to new owners or transferred to partnerships. In individual cases, businesses are to be discontinued in a socially responsible manner. In total, this involves businesses with a turnover of € 350 million. "Our industry is undergoing fundamental structural change worldwide," says Christian Kullmann, CEO of Evonik. "We will focus our resources of all kinds on our strongest businesses. Only then will we be able to exploit growth opportunities in these markets at the necessary speed. Conversely, this also means that we will implement solutions outside Evonik for businesses that we cannot offer the appropriate future prospects under the Evonik umbrella."
Further development of the Evonik Coating & Adhesive Resins Business Line
Evonik's Coating & Adhesive Resins Business Line will be further developed. In the future, it will focus its growth on two core areas: Firstly, liquid polybutadienes as additives for adhesives and sealants or car tires, for example, and secondly, specialty acrylates for the medical technology and packaging industries. The business line's existing polyolefins business, with sales of around €100 million, will be transferred within Evonik to the C4 Chemicals Business Unit. The advantages of the existing close supply relationships between the two Marl-based units will thus be utilized even better. In the future, the business will be sold as part of C4-Chemie. The business with polyesters for coatings and adhesives applications is to be transferred to new owners. Globally, it comprises around 330 employees in Germany and China. The largest site with around 250 employees is in Witten (North Rhine-Westphalia). There is also a smaller facility in Shanghai with around 30 employees. The business has an annual turnover of around €150 million. "The technological expertise of our polyester business is great," says Lauren Kjeldsen, Head of the responsible Smart Materials division. "But in order to be successful in global competition in the long term and generate the necessary margins, investments are required - and other companies that have polyester as a core business can do this better than we can." The search for interested parties is to be launched in 2024.
Case-by-case decisions on further business development
For Thomas Wessel, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director at Evonik, one thing is clear: "Whether we transfer businesses to new hands or discontinue them in individual cases - we always do so in a socially responsible manner with the close involvement of employee representatives. We have also proven this with sales: We select investors carefully and have both the future of our company and the well-being of our employees firmly in mind." CEO Christian Kullmann says: "The reorganization of the two business lines is a good example of our course. By concentrating on our strengths, we can unleash the growth potential that lies within our Group."