Uwe-Ernst Bufe, Chairman of the Board of the German chemicals and metals conglomerate Degussa AG has indicated his group may be interested in taking over the chemicals division of the Anglo-Dutch grou…
Uwe-Ernst Bufe, Chairman of the Board of the German chemicals and metals conglomerate Degussa AG has indicated his group may be interested in taking over the chemicals division of the Anglo-Dutch group Unilever NV, although he pointed out it was too early to make a definitive decision. Unilever, which wishes to divest itself of the division and focus on its core activities in the consumer products sector, said last week it would put its specialty chemicals business up for sale and planned to obtain over US$ 8 billion from the transaction. Degussa“s chemicals division has become its largest and for the year to 30 September 1996 it made a major contribution to the German group“s results. The group achieved net profits of DM 302 million (+1%), despite operating losses of DM 27 million in the precious metals division and restructuring costs of DM 60 million. Turnover was down 1%. The group“s chemicals division made profits of DM 296 million (+12%) on an almost unchanged turnover of DM 3.846 billion.