Bayer AG (D-51368 Leverkusen) is selectively pursuing its strategic expansion in plastic sheet, having now acquired the Korean plastics sheet producer Sewon Enterprise Co. Ltd. The company, in Kimhae near Pusan, will be known as Bayer Sewon Ltd. in future. Business will focus on the production and marketing of solid sheet in Bayer´s polycarbonate “Makrolon”. Sewon Enterprise achieved sales equivalent to EUR 18m in 1999, with a payroll of around 60. Its product range to date has comprised primarily solid polycarbonate sheet, as well as sheet in PMMA and PVC. The South Korean construction industry is its chief customer, and a further portion of sales goes to neighbouring countries in the Far East. The company achieved a market share of approximately 40% for PC sheet alone in South Korea in 1999.

“As a manufacturer of solid polycarbonate sheet, Sewon represents the ideal addition to our subsidiary Bayer Guangyi Panel Co. Ltd. in Beijing, which produces twin-wall sheet in Makrolon. This will considerably reinforce our competitive position on the Asian market”, explained Karl-Heinz Wiebusch, Head of the Semi-Finished Products Business Segment in the Plastics Business Group at Bayer. Another factor in favour of the acquisition was that Sewon presents itself as a state-of-the-art company in terms of its infrastructure and technology. The company has thus made a name for itself through its know-how in special technologies, such as scratch-resistant sheet coatings and other refining processes.

With its acquisition of Sewon, Bayer is reinforcing its global position as one of the leading producers of Makrolon sheet, as the company stressed in Leverkusen. Bayer acquired the Australian Laserlite in 1999 already, which was then followed by the Belgian Axxis N.V. in Tielt and the US company, DSM Sheffield Plastics in Sheffield Massachusetts. On 1 July of this year – as announced on several occasions – Bayer and Röhm GmbH (D-64293 Darmstadt) merged their European polycarbonate and polyester sheet activities under the umbrella of the Makroform GmbH joint venture. Bayer is thus represented as a producer of Makrolon sheet in all the key economic regions.