In early 1997, Bayer Industries Private Limited, a 100% holding company of the German major, Bayer AG acquired a majority share of 51% in ABS Industries Limited. The company then became a part of the Bayer group and was rechristened as “Bayer ABS Limited”.

In early 2004, Bayer Group globally decided carving out of styrenic-based Polymer products,beside other business, into a new group LANXESS, the said business was then globally transferred to a 100% subsidiary of Bayer AG to a Company styled as LANXESS Deutschland GmbH. Once the business operations at Bayer ABS Ltd were regrouped within the LANXESS group, LANXESS AG has become an ultimate holding Company under the spin off process.

LANXESS India Private Ltd. (which is 100% subsidiary of LANXESS AG Germany) acquired 89,63,564 equity shares of Rs.10/- each in Bayer ABS Ltd (BABS) constituting 50.97% of paid-up capital of the paid up share capital of Bayer ABS Limited from Bayer Industries Private Ltd and became a holding Company of the Company.

Consequent to acquisition of 50.97 % share capital by LANXESS India Private Ltd. and the shareholders approval at the 32nd Annual General Meeting held on 28th April, 2005, the Office of Registrar of Companies (ROC) has approved the change of name of the Company from Bayer ABS Limited to LANXESS ABS Limited w.e.f. 29th April, 2005.

With a well defined accent on quality monitors on inputs, process controls, packaging and finished products, LANXESS ABS Limited offers its customers an extensive range of performance thermoplastics – from its indigenous production. The range of products and the variety of grades for a given product are developed and made, to meet almost all the requirements of many sectors of the industry demanding high performance & quality.

Fuelled by the increasing worldwide demand for engineering thermoplastics, LANXESS ABS Limited, a public listed company in NSE & BSE having it’s registered office in Vadodara,recently,announced that it has already commissioned its expansion of SAN capacity from 36,000 tpa to 65,000 tpa in 2005, which has helped increasing its capacity of ABS from 48,000 tpa to 60,000 tpa. The SAN polymer is being used for captive consumption for making ABS and is also being sold as merchant product.

According to Mr. Rakesh Agrawal, MD, LANXESS ABS Limited, “The future is in polymers. We see that our investment in the state-of-the-art R&D facilities at Moxi is paying us rich dividends. With an uptrend in consumer spending on automobiles, white goods and electronic products the demand for ABS resin will go up significantly. We also see good scope for SAN resins.”

To meet the increasing demand, LANXESS ABS Limited intends to enhance the capacity of ABS to 80,000 tpa from the current 60,000 tpa within a short period and the Company is further increasing this capacity to 100,000 tpa in the course of next two years, which is quite possible at a nominally higher cost through an additional investment in machinery and de-bottlenecking in the existing plants. This expansion to 100,000 tpa will be funded through internal accruals. The Company enjoys a debt free situation today and is expected to perform well in forthcoming years. With its technological expertise and international collaboration with global leaders, LANXESS ABS Limited has always anticipated future demand and it has increased capacities steadily to meet these demands.

The Company is watching eagerly the developments in China and the possibility of shifting of manufacturing base to India which would mean an explosive growth in the sector. To have quick responses to such developments, the Company is also carrying out studies for a grass-root facility.
Echoing Mr. Agrawal’s views and stressing on the importance of LANXESS ABS Limited to the LANXESS Group, Dr. J Strassburger, Country Representative and Managing Director, LANXESS India Private Limited said, “India is not only a great market but also has great technical expertise. The plant’s R&D facility at Moxi can undoubtedly be rated amongst the best in the business. It is not without reason that this centre is currently being engaged in research and development in areas of engineering thermoplastics for LANXESS’s global operations.”

Speaking about the company’s future plans, Mr. Agrawal said, “We will be investing to further upgrade our R&D facilities at Moxi by improving the quality of the products and processes. Our main focus will however be on high-grade ABS which is a metal substitute at lower costs.”

Some of the prominent clients of LANXESS ABS include Samsung, LG, Videocon, BPL, Ford, Hero Honda, Cello, Lexi and Bajaj.