Press release
Corporate Press
March 4, 2011

Evonik Finalizes Acquisition of Boehringer Ingelheim’s RESOMER® Business

  • Extending its technology base to increase value creation
    and boost growth
  • Strengthening its position as a strategic partner to the
    pharmaceuticals industry

Evonik Industries formally acquired the entire RESOMER® business of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG on March 1, 2011. This acquisition involved transferring the entire product portfolio comprising standard and customer-specific polymers for medical applications and pharmaceutical formulations to Evonik’s Pharma Polymers Business Line. The purchase agreement was signed in December 2010. The companies agreed not to disclose details of the purchase price. "This transaction strengthens our position as a strategic partner to the pharmaceuticals industry. We view the pharmaceuticals market as a strategic core business in which we’ll continue to grow, both organically and through acquisitions," said Dr. Klaus Engel, the chairman of Evonik Industries AG’s Executive Board.

Based on its polymer platform EUDRAGIT®, the Pharma Polymers Business Line is developing and researching customer-specific solutions for oral delivery forms. By acquiring the new RESOMER®\par Product Line, Pharma Polymers is opening up an application field in parenteral delivery forms, for example, for formulating innovative biotechnological active substances. Thus, Evonik is following the diversification strategy of several key customers from the pharmaceuticals industry and is opening up for itself the market for functional medicinal products. RESOMER® polymers are based first of all on the natural monomers lactic acid and glycolic acid, and they are fully degradable. Based on RESOMER®, depot pharmaceutical forms can be formulated to release the active substance in the body over several months.

In recent years, Evonik has strengthened its position as a producer
of active pharmaceutical substances. In the United States, it took
over Eli Lilly’s more than 600-employee-strong Tippecanoe site.
This facility produces active substances and the associated intermediates for the pharmaceuticals industry. A new medical products plant has been built in Nanning, China, too. Customers also benefit from the Group's global research and production network and the extensive services it offers.

About Evonik

Evonik Industries is the creative industrial group from Germany. In our core business of specialty chemicals, we are a global leader. In addition, Evonik is an expert in power generation from hard coal and renewable energies, and one of the largest private residential real estate companies in Germany. Our company’s performance is shaped by creativity, specialization, continuous self-renewal, and reliability. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In its fiscal
year 2009 about 39,000 employees generated sales of about €13.1 billion and an operating profit (EBITDA) of about €2.0 billion.

Evonik Industries has been producing specialty chemical products in China since the early 1990’s; with wide-ranging trading relations already in place prior to this. The Group now has a total of 20 companies and 16 production sites in the Greater China region. Evonik regards China as one of the driving forces of the global economy, and we consequently intend to increase our business in Greater China to around €2 billion by 2015.

Disclaimer

In so far as forecasts or expectations are expressed in this press release or where our statements concern the future, these forecasts, expectations or statements may involve known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results or developments may vary, depending on changes in the operating environment. Neither Evonik Industries AG nor its group companies assume an obligation to update the forecasts, expectations or statements contained in this release.