Arlanxeo (Maastricht / The Netherlands; www.arlanxeo.com) – the 50:50 synthetic rubber joint venture between Lanxess (Cologne / Germany; www.lanxess.com) and Saudi Aramco (Dhahran / Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com) – was officially launched on 1 April 2016, following the clearance of all relevant antitrust authorities (for previous coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 15.02.2016). Upon closure of the deal, Saudi Aramco’s Dutch subsidiary Aramco Overseas Holdings received a 50% stake in Arlanxeo, while Lanxess was given a cash payment of EUR 1.2 bn.

The German company plans to invest about EUR 400m of the money into organic growth, with another EUR 400m to go towards reducing financial debt, and EUR 200m planned for a share buyback programme. Lanxess managed to reduce its net liabilities to about EUR 1.2 bn, the company said when reporting its 2015 financial results (see Plasteurope.com of 22.03.2016).

Arlanxeo’s roughly 3,800 employees are spread across 20 production sites in nine countries. The company is split into two divisions: High Performance Elastomers and Tire & Specialty Rubbers. Its shareholders committee is chaired by Lanxess CEO Matthias Zachert, with Saudi Aramco vice president Chemicals Warren Wilder serving as vice chairman. The committee is complemented by Lanxess CFO Michael Pontzen and Saudi Aramco controller Khalid Al-Dabbagh.