Lanxess sets up base in Slovakia to cater to its Eastern European market

ERJ staff report (SS)

Leverkusen, Germany -- Lanxess AG has launched Lanxess Central Eastern Europe sro, a distribution company based in Bratislava, the Slovakian capital, in order to respond to the “rapidly growing demand” in central and eastern Europe.

Lanxess' operations in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary will be controlled by the new company, according to a 15 Feb statement from Lanxess.

The company said that sales for the four countries grew by around 4 percent, totaling Euro 130 million in 2007, compared to the same period in 2006.

Poland accounted for the greatest share of this with 41 percent, followed by the Czech Republic (31 percent), Hungary (15 percent) and Slovakia (13 percent), said Lanxess.

One the company's key business units in eastern Europe, high-performance rubbers and rubber chemicals, which supplies rubber specialities to national and international tyre manufacturers, is benefiting from the fact that more and more tyre manufacturers are moving their production to eastern Europe, said Lanxess.

“We expect growth in these countries to outstrip that of western Europe in the years ahead, so we've decided to tap this potential,” said Rainier van Roessel, member of the management board at Lanxess.

Lanxess said that it chose Slovakia thanks to its central location and also because, “Bratislava offers us just the right conditions to succeed. From here, we can control our activities efficiently and effectively throughout the entire region,” said Flemming Bjoernslev, managing director of Lanxess Central Eastern Europe, in the statement.

The company has recruited 40 new staff, around 20 of these will be based in Bratislava.

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Press release from Lanxess