Press release
Personal Care
January 4, 2007

Degussa`s Care & Surface Specialties Business Unit Pools Household Care Activities

Simpler Structures, Improved Service, and Greater Innovative Strength

As of January 1, 2007, Degussa's Care & Surface Specialties Business Unit has pooled the activities of the Home Care and Textile Care Product Lines into a new Household Care Business Line, thus offering its customers more rapid and cost-efficient solutions. This pooling covers all activities from marketing and sales to research and development.

“With this pooling, we'll be able in the future to respond much more efficiently to requirements in the home care and textile care market segments,” says Dr. Claus Rettig, head of the business unit. “In this way we'll create a stronger base for further growth and expansion of our business, by focusing our innovative strength in this area and making more intensive use of the existing synergies.”

The hygiene business, previously part of the Home Care Product Line, will be included in the Personal Care Business Line, and will also be expanded further.

“The advantage to our customers is a more efficient service with products, sales, and technical support from a single source. And that’s not all: By more concentrating and networking our expertise in segments of very similar market character, we'll be able to implement specific innovations in this area and bring them to market readiness more rapidly. In this way we'll be able to offer a unique product range with a higher than average proportion of innovative products,” says Dr. Rettig.

The new Household Care Business Line boasts a comprehensive product range of specialty raw materials and system solutions for the care of textiles, household products, car care products, and the industrial and institutional cleaning sector. The products include specialty surfactants, polishes, silicone compounds, and emulsifiers, as well as bleaching agents and fabric softeners.

Degussa

A wholly owned subsidiary of the RAG Group – is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our business is creating essentials – innovative products and system solutions that make indispensable contributions to our customers’ success. In fiscal 2005 around 44,000 employees worldwide generated sales of 11.8 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of 940 million euros.