Effective January 1, 2015, LANXESS will merge certain business units, reducing their number from 14 to 10. In addition, the company is streamlining its global administration by reducing the workforce on a cross-functional basis and consolidating specific areas of activity. The respective employee representatives will be involved in the process.

Included in this reorganization, the Rubber Chemicals (RUC) business unit's specialty chemicals product line, the Functional Chemicals (FCC) business unit and the Rhein Chemie (RCH) business unit will be combined to form the new Rhein Chemie Additives (ADD) business unit. According to the company, bundling the additives businesses will open up new markets and attract new customers for LANXESS. The head of this new business unit will be Anno Borkowsky.

As announced in September 2013, LANXESS is examining strategic options for the RUC business unit's antioxidants and accelerators business lines. At the same time, the company said it is considering merging these product lines and placing them into the Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit (AII). A decision in favor of one of these options will be made by the end of the third quarter of 2014 at the latest.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and about 16,900 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. Rhein Chemie is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the specialty chemicals group Lanxess. Rhein Chemie makes hydraulic fluid additive packages containing components such as corrosion inhibitors, anti-wear agents and oxidation stability additives.