Lanxess (Cologne / Germany; www.lanxess.com) has completed the sale of its 40% stake in chemical park operator Currenta (Leverkusen / Germany; www.currenta.de) to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Mira, Melbourne / Australia; www.mirafunds.com). The two companies reached an agreement on this in August 2019 (see Plasteurope.com of 12.08.2019).

With the sale, Lanxess achieved an equity value of EUR 780m after deduction of net debt and pension obligations and a pre-tax profit participation of EUR 150m. “We will receive substantial extraordinary income from the sale of Currenta in the second quarter. We are also strengthening our already good financial base. We are thus well prepared to meet the current challenges posed by the corona pandemic”, said Lanxess CFO Michael Pontzen.

Lanxess and Currenta have agreed on initial 10-year service and supply contracts for the three German sites in Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen. The speciality chemicals group operates a substantial part of its global production at these sites.

Currenta manages and operates infrastructure, utilities and other essential services in chemical parks in Germany’s lower Rhine region. It was previously a joint venture of Bayer (Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayer.com) and Lanxess, with respective shares of 60% and 40%. Bayer already completed the sale of its Currenta stake to Mira at the end of November 2019. Lanxess, one of Currenta’s main customers, provided operational support to the new owner during the transition period.

Mira has been operating in Germany for 30 years and has extensive experience in Currenta’s core business areas. These include the areas of supply, transport, logistics, storage, waste management and other disposal services.