Bayer to list MaterialScience division on Frankfurt Stock Exchange

PRW report

Leverkusen, Germany - Bayer has said that it plans to list its MaterialScience operation on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, once it has spun the business off sometime in the next 18 months.

The German chemicals giant announced last week that it planned to spin off the division, which houses its plastics businesses, as a separate company with a new name and identity within the next 12 to 18 months.

Bayer boss Dr. Marijn Dekkers said he “firmly believed that MaterialScience will use its separate status to deploy its existing strength even more rapidly, effectively and flexibly in the global competitive arena,” as well as enabling it direct access to capital markets”.

A spokesman for Bayer confirmed today that the group would seek to list the division on the Frankfurt market.

He declined to confirm that the entity would be valued at around €10bn (£7.8bn): “We don’t comment on external estimations,” he added.

Asked if the group had taken the option of a spin-off because no buyers could be found for the MaterialScience operation, the spokesman said: “Bayer has not approached any possibly interested buyers since a capital market exit is the preferred option.”

Bayer is understood to have hired Rothschild bank to advise it on the spin off.

The company also said that jobs at the division were safe “until at least 2020”