Bayer (D-51368 Leverkusen) and Röhm (D-64293 Darmstadt) are to widen their European joint venture for polycarbonate and PET sheet manufacturing, Makroform GmbH (Kirschenallee, D-64293 Darmstadt), in a strategic move that will lift the Bayer group´s profile in the downstream plastics sector. Subject to regulatory approval, the new firm will start business on 1 July 2000 with pro forma sales of more than EUR 100m and 300 employees. Makroform was first established in the 1970s.

The Leverkusen group, one of the world´s largest producers of polycarbonate polymer with 500,000 t/y of capacity, will bring production activities of its subsidiaries Axxis NV (B-8700 Tielt) and Carbolux SpA (I-05027 Nera) into the reconstituted sheet manufacturer, in which it will hold an as yet unquantified majority. Röhm will contribute its entire PC sheet production. Bayer acquired Axxis from DSM last year, along with Sheffield Plastics in the US. Another sheets acquisition was Laserlite in Australia.

Makroform customers will “greatly benefit” from the wider structure, which will strengthen the company´s position as market leader, said Klaus Roth, head of Röhm´s semi-finished product business unit. The new manufacturing group will be one of the “leading suppliers in the dynamically growing European market for plastic sheeting,” added Dr. Gottfried Zaby, head of Bayer´s plastics business group.