Bayer AG - Stockholders' Newsletter Third Quarter 2007 - World-scale facility to be built in Antwerp

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World-scale facility to be built in Antwerp

Bayer MaterialScience plans to build a plant to manufacture polymer-filled polyether polyols (PMPO) at the Antwerp site in Belgium that will have an annual capacity of 60,000 tons. The picture shows a similar facility already operating in the United States.

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Bayer MaterialScience plans to build a plant to manufacture polymer-filled polyether polyols (PMPO) at the Antwerp site in Belgium that will have an annual capacity of 60,000 tons. The picture shows a similar facility already operating in the United States.

Leverkusen. Bayer MaterialScience is planning to build a world-scale production facility for polymer-filled polyether polyols (polymer polyols, PMPO) at the Antwerp site in Belgium. The plant, involving an investment volume of some €40 million, will have an annual capacity of 60,000 tons and is due on stream in late 2008. Bayer MaterialScience already manufactures polyether polyols, one of the starting materials for polymer polyols, at the Antwerp site. The decision to build the new plant in Antwerp enables leverage of available synergies and will further increase the efficiency of PMPO production.

The planned facility will utilize a new process developed by Bayer MaterialScience in close cooperation with Bayer Technology Services. This innovative and patented PMPO technology delivers products that are considerably superior to those manufactured by conventional processes and has already been successfully tested on a multi-ton scale.