Lanxess continues to grow in Italy

Despite an environment characterised by many upheavals, specialty chemicals company Lanxess continues to grow on the Italian market. Sales in 2022 reached 296.4 million euros in Italy increasing by 31.4% compared to previous year's sales of 225.6 million euros.

Three business units accounted for the largest share of sales: Advanced Industrial Materials producing basic and fine chemicals for further processing, Lubricant Additives offering synthetic base oils, lubricant additives, additive packages and formulated lubricants, and Polymer Additives whose product portfolio includes a variety of additives such as flame retardants, plasticizers, high performance colorants, hydrolysis stabilizers, and solutions for water treatment.

Created in 2021, Lanxess business unit Flavors & Fragrances is now successfully established on the Italian market, too. The business unit bundles the benzyl products of Lanxess and the specialty chemicals business for the consumer goods sector of US company Emerald Kalama Chemical acquired in 2021 that already contributed to higher sales in 2022.

“Italy is one of Lanxess most important markets in Western Europe. In 2022 our business unit Flavors & Fragrances has almost doubled its sales here and thus experienced the strongest sales increase of all business units in Italy. With products like Purox, Kalaguard and Florosol we managed to enter new markets in this segment”, said Vincenzo Trabace, CEO of Lanxess in Italy. “In addition, the new plasticizers K-Flex and Modulast PUR, also deriving from the acquisiton of US company Emerald Kalama Chemical, have been added to the offering of our Polymer Additives business unit and significantly contributed to our sales growth in Italy”.

In the past year, Lanxess continued to sharpen its focus on specialty chemicals, thus becoming even more stable and less dependent on cyclical fluctuations. The Group completed the acquisition of the Microbial Control business from the US company IFF in July 2022. In May last year, Lanxess also announced the spin-off of the High Performance Materials business unit. This is to be transferred to a joint venture for high-performance engineering polymers. Lanxess is planning to found this joint venture with private equity investor Advent International. Lanxess will receive a payment of approximately 1.1 billion euros from the transaction, which the group will use primarily to reduce its debt and thus strengthen its balance sheet.

Lanxess has around 210 employees in Italy. The country headquarters are located in Segrate (Milano). The company offers its complete portfolio to the Italian market comprising consumer protection products, advanced intermediates and specialty additives. At its production site in Latina, Lanxess produces stabilizers for lubricating oil, polyurethane prepolymers and curing agents, antioxidants and light stabilizer for rubber, plastics and agrochemicals.