Lanxess (Leverkusen / Germany; www.lanxess.com) will establish its own subsidiary in South Korea on 1 January 2007 to gain independence of its former parent, Bayer (Leverkusen; www.bayer.com). "The establishment of our own company is another milestone in our efforts to increase profitable growth in Asia," said managing board member Martin Wienkenhöver. Newly appointed managing director at the newly established firm in Seoul, which will trade as Lanxess Korea Ltd, is Ko JeWoong. The Korean citizen currently heads the Lanxess agency within Bayer Korea Ltd.

In the first half of 2006, Lanxess increased its sales in Korea by 18% against the 2005 first half. Turnover in the country in 2005 totalled EUR 88m, making this one of its "top five" Asian markets. The company currently does not produce plastics in Korea. However, in Asia-Pacific altogether, Lanxess reported an increase in engineering plastics sales of 26% in 2005. To accelerate its expansion plans for the region, the former Bayer chemicals and commodity plastics business plans to employ "up to 1,000 new people" over the next three years. Staffing now totals about 2,000.