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Evonik Magazine
Evonik Magazine
3| 2007
3| 2007
Evonik — Fit for the
Global Market
E_01_Titel_Evonik_NEU 1
13.09.2007 15:33:44 Uhr
EDITORIAL 3
PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTIAN SCHLÜTER
EVONIK MAGAZINE 3/2007
Implementing the worldwide presentation of the new brand Evonik
Industries AG: Markus Langer and Inken Ostermann
Dear readers,
Evonik Industries AG, the new industrial group from Germany, has gotten off to a
successful start and is already part of the German business landscape. The public response
to the group’s new name, new color, and new logo has been very positive. The financial
newspaper Handelsblatt praised the group’s “talent for reinventing itself” and concluded
that “A star is born in Essen.” Die Welt made a short and snappy analysis: “It’s got potential.”
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Chairman Dr. Werner Müller a “combative
strategist,” and the mass daily Bild reported that he had won the day.
Today we’d like to present you with the first issue of Evonik Magazine, in the corporate
color Deep Purple and a new layout. On the following pages we’ll tell you a bit about the
new industrial group: the story of its transformation and the strengths of its three Business
Areas: Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate. You’ll also be able to get a glimpse behind the
scenes at the people who designed and staged the new brand, as well as enjoying a column
by the marketing professor Klaus Brandmeyer, who explains how important a new company’s public image is to the process of generating brand awareness. The presentation of
the new industrial group began with a spectacular advertising campaign featuring the
question “Who would do that?” and the answer “We do.” A great deal of hard work and
creativity went into that simple exchange, as you’ll find out on the following pages. Many
people are making sure the new brand is well known on the world market and packs
an emotional punch — particularly the new head of Corporate Marketing, Markus Langer,
and the Public Relations Manager and Editor in Chief of our magazine, Inken Ostermann.
The Chairman of the Management Board of Evonik, Dr. Werner Müller, regards the
new name as merely the starting signal for the powerful launch of the Group and its globally operating Business Areas. As he points out in an interview with the journalist Manfred
Bissinger, “Ultimately, we’ll be making a name for ourselves through what we do. If our
operations are good, it will be a good name; if they are bad, the new name won’t help us
much.” (page 18). The powerhouse from the Ruhr region will
do everything possible to quickly make the new name a synonym
for success, innovative ideas, creative solutions, and straightforward operations. Evonik Magazine will keep you updated.
Evonik does!
Pleasant reading!
The editorial team of Evonik Magazine
24 CHEMICALS BUSINESS AREA
32 ENERGY BUSINESS AREA
40 REAL ESTATE BUSINESS AREA
48 A STRONG PERFORMANCE
EDITORIAL
MASTHEAD
3 A New Industrial Group Makes its Debut
Publisher:
Evonik Industries AG, Essen /
Christian Kullmann, Rellinghauser
Str. 1–11, 45128 Essen.
Editor in Chief:
Inken Ostermann (responsible for
editorial content).
Coordination Evonik:
Andreas Fröning.
Art Direction:
Wolf Dammann.
Final Editing (Head):
Kurt Breme.
Managing Editors:
Frauke Meyer, Ulrich Raschke.
Picture Desk:
Ulrich Thiessen.
Documentation:
Kerstin Weber-Rajab,
Tilman Baucken; Hamburg.
Design:
Teresa Nunes (Head),
Anja Giese, Silke Möller,
Nadine Weiler / Redaktion 4.
Copy Desk:
Wilm Steinhäuser.
Translation:
TransForm, Cologne.
Publisher and address:
HOFFMANN UND CAMPE VERLAG
GmbH, a GANSKE
VERLAGSGRUPPE company,
Harvestehuder Weg 42,
20149 Hamburg,
Telephone +49 (0)40 / 441 88-457,
Fax +49 (0)40 / 441 88-236,
e-mail: [email protected].
Management:
Manfred Bissinger,
Dr. Kai Laakmann,
Dr. Andreas Siefke.
Production:
Claude Hellweg (Head), Oliver Lupp.
Lithography: PX2, Hamburg.
Printing: Neef+Stumme, Wittingen.
Copyright:
© 2007 by Evonik Industries AG,
Essen. Reprinting only with the
permission of the publisher. The
contents do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the publisher.
Contact:
Questions and suggestions on the
contents of the magazine:
Telephone +49 (0)201 / 177-3831,
Fax -2908,
e-Mail: [email protected].
Questions about orders or
subscriptions:
Telephone +49 (0)40 / 688 79-139,
Fax -199,
e-mail: [email protected]
SHAPING
6 The Creativity Group
New objectives, unconventional approaches, and a decisive strategy for the world’s most important markets — these
are the hallmarks of the new industrial group from the Ruhr region
12 Evonik and the Global Market
Chemicals, Energy, Real Estate — the new global player from Essen is active worldwide on these markets, which offer
outstanding opportunities for growth and profit
18 The Group’s Architect
The blueprint for the new Group and the plans for a socially responsible end to hard coal mining in Germany
by 2018 — neither would have been possible without Group Chairman Dr. Werner Müller. Manfred Bissinger spoke
with Dr. Müller about the past and the future
22 A Foundation for Success
Evonik has three Business Areas — Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate. Creativity, surprising solutions, and decisive,
straightforward dealings characterize everyday activities at Evonik
24 Inspiring Capital Markets’ Investors
A world leader in specialty chemicals, the Chemicals Business Area’s pioneering activities are inspiring the dreams
of capital markets’ investors
32 Fuel for Growth
The Energy Business Area is a player on a rapidly growing market. As a technological leader specializing in modern,
hard coal-fired power plants, it is superbly equipped to retrofit facilities and build new plants all over the world.
Its expertise in “green energy” is a key to realizing new climate targets
PHOTOGRAPHY: CORBIS, EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG, KNSK/ANATOL KOTTE, CATRIN MORITZ
CONTENTS 5
40 Long-Term Profitability
In Germany today, the Real Estate Business Area is setting the standards when it comes to the modernization and
management of residential properties. Satisfied tenants are the best guarantee of long-term profitability
48 Evonik Does!
A new company color, a new logo, and an extensive advertising campaign! Nothing was overlooked for the launch
of the new Group. The road that led to the new brand is a story of success
58 The New Owner — the RAG-Stiftung
The RAG-Stiftung will lead the new Group onto the capital markets and play a key role in the cessation of
hard coal mining in Germany by 2018
62 A Good Name Opens Every Door
Marketing expert Professor Klaus Brandmeyer discusses the impact of a strong brand name
The designations PLEXIGLAS®, EUDRAGIT®,
EUDRAMODE®, LUGLAS®, ROHACELL®, and
VISCOPLEX® are registered trade marks of Evonik
Industries Aktiengesellschaft or its subsidiaries.
All trademarks in the text are set in capitals
6
SHAPING
EVONIK
Dr. Werner Müller is Chairman of the Management Board of Evonik Industries AG. He is the originator of the plans for transforming the RAG Group and
7
Evonik Is Counting on
“Growth Sprinters”
Evonik Industries AG, the new industrial group from the
Ruhr region, is setting clear return targets in its bid for
success on the stock market — and spending €300 million
annually on research and development
TEXT THEO DENNE
PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTIAN SCHLÜTER
SOON AFTER BECOMING the Chair-
establishing the RAG-Stiftung
man of RAG four years ago, Dr. Werner Müller announced — first to the Group’s employees and then to the general public — that he
intended to make the Group “a conventional
company.” This plan has now become a reality. Evonik Industries AG, the new industrial group from the Ruhr region, is taking
up its work and is ready for the capital market. With revenues of more than €15 billion
and almost 43,000 employees all over the
world, it’s the new powerhouse in the Ruhr
region, combining a solid regional footing
with global operations in the three Business
Areas Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate.
But Müller wouldn’t be Müller if he were
satisfied with that. He’s setting the bar high
indeed: “Our goal is to become one of the
most creative industry groups in the world,”
he says. Thanks to its Real Estate Business
Area, which is fairly independent of overall
economic development, and its stable energy business, Evonik has substantial clout
as well as dependable revenues. And its
Chemicals Business Area offers it promising
potential growth. “The new industrial
group’s innovative power is phenomenal,”
Müller reports with enthusiasm. For example, in its Chemicals Business Area, Evonik
achieves 20 percent of its revenues with
products and technologies that are less than
five years old. The Group has taken out
more than 20,000 patents, and it spends
more than €300 million annually on research and development.
Evonik has clearly found the right recipe
for success, and that’s been confirmed by the
operating developments of recent years.
The figures for the first half-year impressively demonstrate that the Group has created the basis for its upcoming IPO. Its revenues increased by three percent to €7.565
billion, and its earnings before interest and
taxes (EBIT) rose by a spectacular 26 percent from January to June to almost €788
million (2006: €625 million). The Group’s
total surplus is now more than €715 million,
compared to only €302 million last year.
“The first half of 2007 has been excellent.
Our course toward the capital market is the
right one for us,” says Müller. However, he’s
keeping various strategic options open.
ON THE ROAD TO THE
CAPITAL MARKET
The charter of the RAG-Stiftung (foundation), which is the new owner of the Evonik
Group, includes a legally binding requirement to go public. However, this does not
exclude the possibility of increasing the proceeds expected from the IPO by selling stock >
8
SHAPING
EVONIK
> packages to a major investor. This move is
covered by the original intention of the
RAG-Stiftung’s founders, because it would
make Evonik even more attractive to investors before the IPO. Consequently, Evonik
and the foundation’s board are considering
the possibility of selling the first tranche of
the stock issue to an investor. “Nothing has
been decided as yet,” says Müller. His aim is
to steer a pragmatic course, he adds: “Whatever helps Evonik and brings substantial
proceeds into the foundation’s coffers will
be good.” In order to be ready for operation
soon, the foundation also needs to beef up
its budget, and that might be accomplished
faster by selling shares to an investor than by
an IPO. But in order to prevent speculation,
Müller makes one point absolutely clear:
“There have been no contacts or talks whatsoever with Gazprom.”
SHARING SUCCESS WITH
THE EMPLOYEES
By entering the capital market, Evonik aims
to give its employees the opportunity to participate in the Group’s success. The managers, for example, will receive long-term performance fees that are closely linked with
the Group’s success. According to Müller,
the employees’ expertise and dedication
will be the key criteria of their personal success. He appreciates the way the Group’s
“team” has helped to implement the transformation process.
To sum up, over the past three years RAG
has carried out the biggest disinvestment
program of its corporate history, selling
more than 480 companies with over €8 billion in revenues and 35,000 employees.
What’s more, this process has been undisputed and socially responsible. Today, the
subgroups Rütgers, RAG Coal International
and RAG Saarberg no longer exist. On the
other hand, Degussa has been completely
taken over in record time, the administration within the Group has been restructured, and the Group’s debts have been reduced by €1 billion to €4.6 billion.
“The Group’s portfolio of white businesses is now largely free of problems,” says
Müller with satisfaction. Now Evonik will be
able to exploit its opportunities for growth,
he adds. Müller sees these opportunities primarily in what he calls “megatrend Number
1” — more effective energy utilization. All
over the world, companies are offering
products, services, and solutions that help
to save energy and reduce emissions of the
greenhouse gas CO2. Evonik is preparing to
conquer the markets of the future with new
and intelligent first-class products.
What motivates Evonik is its sense of responsibility, as a major industrial group, for
people’s living conditions. But Müller also >
PHOTOGRAPHY : JOCHEN BALKE/SIRIUS
New and intelligent
products for the
future-oriented markets
of the global economy
A new symbol for Essen: Evonik Industries AG put
9
up posters to announce its new name and message on the façade of its headquarters building: Power to create
10
SHAPING
EVONIK
Combining corporate
competitiveness
with concern for a high
quality of life
The Management Board of Evonik Industries AG
Chairman of the
Management Board
Dr. Werner Müller
Management Board
Human Resources
Ulrich Weber
• Corporate
• Human Resources, • Finances
Development
• Communications/
Executive Affairs
• Basic
Issues
• Group
Revision
Policy and
Codetermination
• Skills and
Performance
Management
• ESH: Environment,
Safety, and Health
Management
• Legal Affairs
Chief Financial
Management Board
Officer
Real Estate
Heinz-Joachim Wagner Dr. Peter Schörner
• Real Estate
• Accounting
• Controlling
• Tax Accounting
• IT
• Mergers &
• Shared Service
Acquisitions
• Investor
Relations
Center
Management Board
Chemicals
Dr. Klaus Engel
Management Board
Chemicals
Dr. Alfred Oberholz
Management Board
Energy
Dr. Alfred Tacke
• Chemicals
• Chemicals
• Energy
11
> stresses that the company is determined to
earn healthy profits worldwide with “top
quality made by Evonik.” Müller, who studied languages, terms this a win-win situation that combines economic competitiveness with the preservation of a high quality
of life across the globe.
These are high expectations — but Evonik
can already produce many examples that
support its claim to be a creative company
that is setting new benchmarks as a specialist and a technological leader.
ENHANCING A LEADING
POSITION
Solar silicon is a good example. Evonik is already producing trichlorosilane and monosilane, the elementary and indispensable
fabricated materials of solar silicon, the most
important raw material for the solar industry. And its high returns show that it’s producing them with tremendous success. In
the middle term, Evonik intends to invest
hundreds of millions of euros in order to exploit its competitive advantage and improve
on its outstanding position in this market.
Another example is plastic materials
used as metal substitutes. They make aircraft, vehicles, and ships lighter, make them
cheaper to produce, and reduce their fuel
consumption. In some areas, Evonik is the
world’s only supplier of such high-performance plastics. Revenues at ROHACELL
have increased by almost 50 percent, so it’s
no wonder that the capacity of its plant in
Mobile, Alabama, is being expanded. Yet another example is Evonik’s “green tires.”
Evonik has products and technologies that
reduce rolling resistance by up to 40 percent
by comparison to conventional tires, saving
up to eight percent of fuel and thus easing
the burden on the environment.
Other examples include catalysts for
transforming rapeseed oil into biodiesel, as
well as specialist ceramics for lithium-ion
batteries for fuel-saving hybrid and electric
vehicles. The number of jobs in this area of
production is expected to increase tenfold
in the medium term to more than 1,000 — in
an industry that seemed lost to Asian competitors. “Our research successes will bring
these jobs back to Germany,” says Müller.
In the energy sector, it’s a well-known
fact that Evonik has a tradition of technolog-
ical leadership in the construction and operation of coal-fired power plants. But it’s
less well known that Evonik also has gained
tremendous expertise in energy production
from renewable sources. Here too, creativity and specialization are the keys to success.
Evonik is Germany’s leading company for
electricity production from mine gas, biogas, and geothermal energy. What’s more,
in the major coal-producing countries
China, Russia, Ukraine, and Poland, there
are many possibilities for utilizing mine gas
to produce electricity. Renewable energy
sources are generally regarded as a very
promising area of future business, but for
Evonik they are already very profitable today. The EBITDA margin is over 30 percent
— in other words, for every euro of revenue,
30 cents flow into the company’s coffers before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization are deducted. It’s obvious that
Evonik profitably uses its expertise in the
generation of electricity from hard coal, and
that it aims to greatly expand these operations abroad in particular.
Evonik is also one of the major players in
the real estate business. It owns more than
60,000 residential units and a 50 percent
share in the property management company
Treuhandstelle für Bergmannswohnstätten
(THS), which controls 77,000 residential
units. Here too, it is developing solutions to
increase energy efficiency. These include
ultramodern new constructions that are
supplied with energy from photovoltaics
and geothermal energy sources.
FOCUSING ON
“GREEN GROWTH”
These examples show that Evonik is banking not only on the enhancement of its existing business operations but also on
“green” growth. Müller believes that the
Group is still only beginning to explore the
possibilities in this area, but that the outlook
for business success is excellent. He points
out that there are “growth sprinters” within
the company that are already bringing in
revenues of €3 billion. For example, the
Chemicals Business Area’s earnings and return on capital in this area are significantly
higher than the industry average. That
alone, he is convinced, shows that the Group
is moving in the right direction. But even
though very many of the “growth sprinters”
are involved in the “green” markets of the
future, Müller candidly admits that “Evonik
is not a ‘green’ industrial group.” As with all
industrial production, a whole series of the
company’s production processes affect the
environment, and that will remain the case
even if Evonik makes great efforts to reduce
the amount of pollution. One of these efforts
is the substitution of hydrogen peroxide for
chlorine in paper production, Müller adds.
EVONIK PRODUCTION
PLANTS IN CHINA
Evonik’s Chairman believes that the markets
with the biggest growth potential are in
Asia, eastern Europe, and Latin America. In
Asia, the biggest potential today is in China,
so this is where the Group aims to set up its
own production plants. The cornerstone has
already been laid. In Shanghai, the company
is investing €250 million in the construction of a new integrated production facility
for the manufacture of specialized plastics.
That’s the company’s second-largest individual investment to date in the Chemicals
Business Area. Without these plastics, it
would not be able to produce PLEXIGLAS
for flatscreens or cellphone displays — in
other words, for products that are currently
being sold in tremendous numbers on the
market. China is a good example of the other
projects abroad. For 2007 alone, a total of
€1.3 billion will be spent on expanding the
Group’s presence all over the world.
Apropos budgets and investments,
Evonik is not yet listed on the stock exchange. Nonetheless, the Group is already
complying with the conventional requirements of the capital market. In other words,
it is investing only in businesses that stand
out because of their growth and attractive
profit margins. Uniform Group-wide criteria for these qualities have been defined.
Funding is being provided only for investments that will yield minimum returns of 16
percent before taxes in the Chemicals Business Area, 10.5 percent in the Energy Business Area, and 6.3 percent in the Real Estate
Business Area. Müller has prescribed the
principle of “growth and pruning” — that is,
divesting all activities that cannot fulfill the
return requirements. “In this regard, there
are no sacred cows” he concludes. <
12
SHAPING
EVONIK
Excellent Prospects Worldwide for
With its three Business Areas, Evonik Industries AG is active in markets that are expected to
Global chemical exports 2006
Shares in percent
Germany
France
UK
Italy
Spain
Netherlands
Belgium
Ireland
Sweden
Poland
Denmark
Austria
Finland
Hungary
Czech Republic
Portugal
Slovenia
Greece
Slovakia
EU 25
Rest of the
world
55.3
44.7
12.3
Other European countries
20
40
80
60
100
Germany
120
Growing chemicals consumption
Chemicals revenues
In billions of euros
EU 25, Germany, China
World
600
World
3000
1900
2800
1800
2600
2400
500
EU 25
400
1700
2200
2000
1600
1800
China
1300
1200
100
Germany
0
1100
1000
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
E_12_17_Klapper-aus_Evonik Abs2:12
SOURCE: DEUTSCHE BANK RESEARCH
200
2005
2010*
2015*
1600
1500
300
1400
2004
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Germany
* Forecast
EU 25
USA
Japan
China
India
World
0
SOURCE: VERBAND DER CHEMISCHEN INDUSTRIE (VCI)
19.09.2007 13:23:08 Uhr
SWEDEN
EU
GDP
Per capita GDP $29,540
$1,269 billion
CANADA
Population
$14,563 billion
NL
B
Population 493 million
Population
CZECH REPUBLIC
GDP
USA
$13,245 billion
Population
GDP
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
10 million
CROATIA
BULGARIA
7 million
$3,808
GDP
$979 billion
Per capita GDP
$6,856
UKRAINE
CROATIA
ITALY
North RhineWestphalia
MEXICO
SLOVAKIA
ROMANIA
HUNGARY
CH
$377 billion
Per capita GDP $51.771
A
FRANCE
$37 billion
Per capita GDP
BELARUS
POLAND
D
33 million
USA
GDP
DENMARK
SWITZERLAND
TURKEY
CHINA
$43 billion
GDP
Per capita GDP $9,558 $
Per capita GDP
Population
Population 1,314 million
4 million
$840 billion
$2,002
IRAN
GDP
Germany
$31 billion
Per capita GDP
Population
EGYPT
$2,982
NIGERIA
GDP
$392 billion
GDP
GDP
$135 billion
Population
Saarland
$2,888
47 million
BRAZIL
BRAZIL
GDP
$1,067 billion
Per capita GDP
Saarland
$115 billion
Per capita GDP
$770
GDP
Population
SOUTH AFRICA
EGYPT
GDP
GDP
$255 billion
$5,384
47 million
$140 billion
7 million
$107 billion
Per capita GDP
Population
$1,489
72 million
ARGENTINA
Chemicals location
Energy location
Real Estate location
GDP
$213 billion
Per capita GDP
Population
$5,458
39 million
GDP
HONG KONG
$2,274
Per capita GDP
$3,046
70 million
PHILIPPINES
GDP
Per capita GDP
$797
GDP
GDP
$888 billion
Population
Population
7 million
TAIWAN
GDP
$365 billion
$1,640
INDONESIA
48 million
JAPAN
$356 billion
GDP
$4,368 billion
Population
23 million
ARGENTINA
SOUTH AFRICA
87 million
Per capita GDP
SINGAPORE
Population 1,113 million
SOUTH KOREA
$1,345
INDONESIA
GDP
$887 billion
HONG KONG
$190 billion
$117 billion
Population
INDIA
$213 billion
GDP
Per capita GDP
THAILAND
47 million
IRAN
Population
Population
73 million
ISRAEL
Per capita GDP
$5,717
$5,408
INDIA
$106 billion
Population
Population
NIGERIA
PHILIPPINES
Per capita GDP
Per capita GDP
COLUMBIA
UKRAINE
GDP
10 million
NRW
COLUMBIA
Evonik Industries AG is a new, modern
group from Germany that is at home
on all of the world's important markets.
In more than 100 countries, 42,500
employees earn revenues of €14.8 billion.
The three Business Areas of Chemicals,
Energy and Real Estate are active in
growth markets with excellent prospects
for the future
TAIWAN
TURKEY
Countries with Group locations
JAPAN
CHINA
TUNISIA
$8,066
Legend
SOUTH KOREA
TUNISIA
MEXICO
Per capita GDP
Global Group
from the
Ruhr Region
$2,630 billion
ISRAEL
Per capita GDP
E_13-16_Klapper-inn_Evonik.indd 2-3
RUSSIA
SINGAPORE
THAILAND
GDP
GDP
$132 billion
$206 billion
Per capita GDP
Population
Population
4 million
GDP = gross domestic product, all figures: Status end 2006
$3,137
66 million
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIA
NEW ZEALAND
GDP
GDP
$755 billion
$103 billion
Population
Population
21 million
NEW
ZEALAND
4 million
ILLUSTRATION: DIETER DUNEKA/SOURCES: IWF, EUROSTAT, COMPANY STATEMENTS/PHOTOGRAPHY: MAURITIUS IMAGES
GDP
GDP
BELARUS
UK
CANADA
GDP
RUSSIA
19.09.2007 13:32:37 Uhr
17
Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate
develop in spectacular fashion over the coming years
Global energy consumption
Energy sources: global consumption
In septillion Btu*
In septillion Btu*
800
History
Forecast
250
600
History
Forecast
200
Oil**
150
Coal
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
*1 Btu (British thermal unit) = 1.055 kilojoules (kJ)
Increasing number of households
42
History
Natural gas
Renewables
50
Nuclear
0
1980
1995
2004
50
40
2030
World population in billions
In the city
In the country
Forecast
2015
*1 Btu (British thermal unit) = 1.055 kilojoules (kJ)
**and liquid fuels from other sources
The future is urban
Proportion of households of
over-65s in percent
Number of households in millions
100
SOURCE: WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2007
200
SOURCE: WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2007
400
9
History
Forecast
8
40
7
38
6
30
5
34
10
32
0
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
The number of households in Germany will increase over the next 20 years,
and the need for modern apartments will continue to grow. The average size of
seniors’ households is smaller than that of family households
E_12_17_Klapper-aus_Evonik Abs1:17
2050
4
3
2
1
0
1950
1970
1990
2010
Worldwide, more and more people are moving from the country to the city.
This trend will also determine the real estate market of the future in Germany
2030
SOURCE: UN
20
36
19.09.2007 13:19:40 Uhr
18
SHAPING
INTERVIEW MÜLLER
“That Was a Heavy Blow.”
Evonik Industries AG Chairman Dr. Werner Müller talks about the Group’s parting from the
coal business and the new company’s opportunities in the growth markets of the future
PHOTOGRAPHY: XXXXX
After four years of
restructuring work
as the head of a
“conventional
company,” Evonik
Chairman Dr. Werner
Müller talks to
Manfred Bissinger
about the future
19
INTERVIEW MANFRED BISSINGER
PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTIAN SCHLÜTER
EVONIK MAGAZINE When you started out four years ago
“There was no
reasonable
alternative to the
concept we
had developed”
in Essen, your goal was to transform RAG into a conventional
company that was fit for the stock exchange. This goal has
been achieved. Are you satisfied?
DR. WERNER MÜLLER It’s true that many people initially
considered my goal utopian. But to now spend time looking
back with satisfaction isn’t the best way forward.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Why do you say that?
MÜLLER We’ve done a fairly good job so far — but we now
have to focus on the future.
EVONIK MAGAZINE It all began with your idea that RAG’s
energy, chemicals and real estate businesses should be separated from the mining operations and the company should
go public. The proceeds were to flow into a foundation that would support
the future of mining and finance the Group’s inherited liabilities with unlimited duration. This was a brilliant plan that should have received more
support from the very start. Why did it take four years to implement it?
MÜLLER During the first year we initially had to finance the purchase of
the first tranche of Degussa by means of a loan. And we had to consider
what kind of portfolio we would need in order to be fit for the future. For
example, before I came on board, the Supervisory Board had decided to
sell STEAG. Subsequently that decision was canceled and the concept of a
conventional company was developed. We were ready to start the detailed
preparations in the fall of 2004, and from then on we made real progress.
Of course there were obstacles. Unexpectedly, a national parliamentary
election was called, a grand coalition was formed, and negotiations began
all over again. That lost us months of progress. And let’s not forget that the
talks with some of the owners didn’t always run smoothly.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You mentioned “some obstacles.” Isn’t that an understatement? Didn’t some people intentionally set up stumbling blocks.
MÜLLER Considering that we had to come up with a solution that satisfied
two differently constituted state governments, a newly formed national
government, four self-confident major shareholders, the IG BCE labor
union, and 100,000 employees, the process has run fairly smoothly.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Did you ever find yourself wishing for a tank that
would smash down the barricades blocking your plans?
MÜLLER There was no reasonable alternative to the concept we had developed. It was self-supporting and self-explanatory. That was our tank.
EVONIK MAGAZINE And yet politicians repeatedly tried to throw the
concept into question — for example, by floating the idea of dividing up
the Group and selling it off in pieces. That would have been the end of
the RAG Group.
MÜLLER That’s right. But the initial decision would have had to be made
within the Group; after all, the company is subject to the codetermination
regulations for the mining industry. I can’t imagine our Supervisory Board
agreeing to such a proposal. Then too, it would have had to be convincingly
presented by the politicians. It’s hard to imagine a politician who could have
stood in front of our headquarters building saying, “All right, now everything’s going to be split up and the individual pieces will be thrown onto
the capital market.” That would have been contrary to our promise to create a new, profitable corporate group for the Ruhr region and to make it
prosper for the benefit of the people
who live there.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You have submitted the Group to an unparalleled
restructuring process and parted from
480 companies that bring in approximately €8 billion in revenues — without becoming involved in any public conflicts. There were no occupied
buildings, no strikes, and no demonstrations. How did you do it?
MÜLLER There’s no doubt that it
was the result of a reasonable, objective, and hands-on codetermination
process. In such a process, there’s always trouble if you don’t inform the
employees and ask them to share the responsibility, from the very start.
We arrived at all the decisions amicably within the committees.
EVONIK MAGAZINE That achievement wasn’t properly appreciated.
MÜLLER The important thing is that our measures never received any negative press coverage. Our employees and the IG BCE leadership supported
the process and even considered the eventual termination of our coal mining operations. We could really not take that for granted.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Was that the biggest obstacle?
MÜLLER It was a very difficult decision, and we’ll be feeling the repercussions in our industrial policy for a long time to come. Just look at the way
coal prices have developed on the world market in recent months. Regardless of that, 150 years of mining history in the Ruhr region have now
come to an end. That was a heavy blow for all of us.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Germany’s economic rebound after World War II
would have been unthinkable without the coal industry.
MÜLLER Without coal there would have been no industrialization. It was
the engine that drove the history of industry after 1800.
EVONIK MAGAZINE The Coal Act contains a clause ensuring that the
process will be reviewed in 2012. Can the mine closures still be reversed
at that point?
MÜLLER The procedure for applying this review clause has been roughly
defined. It will be based on neutral assessments. If coal prices continue to
increase at the present rate, I’ll be very curious to hear the experts’ forecasts. I expect that by 2012 even a country with such vast coal deposits as
China will be a net importer of coal. I also assume that India, with its population of 1.2 billion, will develop its economy at its present pace and that
it will operate coal-burning power stations and need steel as the basis of
its industrial progress. Let’s wait and see. But let’s ignore the role of Germany for a moment. It’s certain that in global terms coal will remain one of
the most important raw materials for the next 100 to 200 years.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You’ve accomplished a tremendous amount in the
four years of restructuring at RAG, and you still have much to do. You originally considered heading the foundation yourself so that you could successfully complete your plan. But things have now turned out differently.
MÜLLER If I hadn’t wanted the position, I wouldn’t have applied for it. The
foundation’s job is to make sure the mining industry is led into the future in
the way the politicians have promised. And because politicians are sometimes fickle, I felt I had an obligation to the miners. I wanted to keep my >
20
SHAPING
INTERVIEW MÜLLER
Not looking back in anger: Dr. Werner Müller got his plans for the new
Evonik Group accepted in spite of strong resistance. He’s grateful for the support
he received from the Supervisory Board and the Group’s employees
> word. Apart from that, I believe the foundation will have a positive effect
on the Ruhr region. It now has a chairman who is a businessman rather
than a politician. That’s an excellent starting point.
EVONIK MAGAZINE How well do you know Mr. Bonse-Geuking?
MÜLLER I’ve been aware of his excellent qualities ever since we worked
together at VEBA. And when I was the Minister of Economics I dealt with
him frequently. So I know that the foundation is in good hands with him as
chairman. I had the opportunity to recommend him to the Chancellor, and
I’m very grateful to Angela Merkel for getting him appointed.
EVONIK MAGAZINE From an outsider’s point of view, it looks as though
you’ve been through some difficult years recently. Has time healed all the
wounds?
MÜLLER Well, not everything went smoothly, especially if we’re talking
about the start of 2007. But in retrospect there were no points where I was
really vulnerable, so I was always optimistic. Then too, I’m grateful to the
Supervisory Board and especially to
our employees for the strong support
they gave me so often.
EVONIK MAGAZINE The group
that’s now getting off to a new start
under a new name stands on three
pillars: chemicals, energy, and real
estate. Why these three?
MÜLLER When I started out we
were still operating in many areas. We were tools wholesalers —
with two companies that competed
against each other. We were also
building prefab houses and operating cement plants to produce the
components for them. We were
even building façades for high-rises.
I initially focused on the large complexes — the real estate business, power
generation, and chemicals. After we had identified these areas we continued to make them leaner. For instance, we sold off our commercial real
estate development and facility management operations. The payoff is
that today each one of these three pillars is making fine profits, enhancing the value of the Group as a whole, and delivering substantial earnings
that boost the dividends of our stock.
EVONIK MAGAZINE But aren’t you worried that people will argue that
conglomerates of this kind won’t attract investors?
MÜLLER I’m not worried about people who point out that our three pillars have little in common by nature. The critics’ attitude toward conglomerates — which is an odd term to begin with — is already changing. For
my part, I’ve been observing that German industrial companies with a
single focus can experience market growth only in relative terms, so they
are once again looking around for other business opportunities. After all,
companies want to go on growing. Thanks to our three business areas, we are well positioned in this regard. Our business areas are diverse, but each of them has outstanding future prospects.
EVONIK MAGAZINE In other words, you’re refuting the
idea that conglomerates are not attractive to investors.
MÜLLER Just take a look at the major German power companies. All of them without exception have a single focus.
As a result, they are practically forbidden by antitrust legislation to buy up other companies, not only in Germany, but
also in the rest of Europe. In other words, they can invest in
power companies in Mongolia, for example, or they can consider investing in a completely different sector. However, investing revenues in stock buybacks is not the right way for a
company to grow.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Can you imagine Evonik Industries AG
adding other pillars to the present three?
“We have
considerable
opportunities
for growth
in all three
Business Areas”
21
EVONIK MAGAZINE Have private equity companies — the much-feared
MÜLLER At the moment, I don’t think that’s going to happen. We still have
great potential for growth in all three Business Areas. In the real estate sector, we’ll double our property portfolio in the coming years. And the chemicals area is ripe for expansion. That also goes for the energy sector, where
our activities have scarcely interested the antitrust authorities.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Acquisitions would be one option. What do you
think of cooperative projects?
MÜLLER That’s a possibility, as is the option of buying additional businesses together with partners. But let me repeat: we have enough growth
potential of our own. Fortunately, our Chemicals Business Area is active
in areas where we expect world market demand to grow and where we
are spearheading progress.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Are you ruling out the possibility of bringing another major investor on board?
MÜLLER No, not at all. That decision is basically in the hands of the owner.
Obviously it will discuss such decisions with us ahead of time.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Are you referring to the foundation?
MÜLLER: The discussions we’ve had in recent weeks have shown that we
are very much in agreement concerning our initial public offering (IPO).
We’re preparing for both possibilities: an IPO in the first half of 2008 as
well as the integration of a major investor before that time. The foundation
bylaws permit both alternatives. One criterion the owner will use when
making the decision will certainly be the amount of money each alternative will contribute to the foundation’s funds.
EVONIK MAGAZINE In 2018 the foundation will have to have €8 billion
to cover the coal-related inherited liabilities with unlimited duration.
MÜLLER: The closer the foundation can approach this goal even now,
the better.
EVONIK MAGAZINE People are already speculating about who the major
investor might be. One name that keeps coming up is Gazprom.
MÜLLER Well, I haven’t conducted any discussions with Gazprom to date,
and they haven’t indicated any interest in talks either.
“locusts” — been knocking at your door?
MÜLLER Yes, many of them. I don’t find my discussions with them totally uninteresting, because it confirms my feeling that we are running a
sound enterprise.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Which of the three Business Areas has the best future prospects, in your opinion? Chemicals, for example, is already the
world market leader in some sectors.
MÜLLER Silicon-based chemicals have a very promising future. But we’re
also the world leader in the market for a product that’s urgently needed by
paper producers. We could continue investing in this area. Another outstanding new development we have is explosion-proof electric batteries. We have
outstanding C4 chemicals, and other great products besides. That’s why I
said we’ve got outstanding prospects for internal growth in many areas, including our special developments in the cosmetics industry. We’ve got really
good potential for successful business now and in the future.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Are you worried about the very stringent future restrictions on CO2 emissions?
MÜLLER Ultramodern coal-burning power plants are a future-oriented
market, although many issues need resolving. But to answer your question,
I’m committed to the future of the German economy, so I do worry.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Will the Evonik Group stay in the Ruhr region?
MÜLLER I can’t say it will stay forever. But as long as I have a say in this
Group, our headquarters will remain in Essen.
EVONIK MAGAZINE What kind of cultural activities will Evonik
support?
MÜLLER We have to rethink our sponsoring activities. We have supported
cultural events to an unusual degree, out of our basic convictions and our
commitment to the Ruhr region — but also to remind people of our existence. One of the basic issues in the increasingly critical public debate of
recent years about the coal industry has been the assumption that if coal
mining disappears the Ruhrkohle company will also be closed down. But
the truth is that we stopped being the Ruhrkohle company a long time
ago. When I started working here we had 100,000 employees, including
40,000 miners and 60,000 people in the chemicals, energy, and real estate sectors. However, we had to work hard to convince the public that we
are not just a coal producer but a major German industrial group.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You’ve certainly succeeded.
MÜLLER Yes, the results have made our efforts worthwhile. We have
made such a lasting impression on public awareness that, for example,
those who argued that the Group should be broken up did not win the debate. If we had accepted our image as the coal producer Ruhrkohle and not
spoken up for ourselves, we would have been swept away by the changing
political currents. But now we’re on the way to the capital market. If we
intend to operate at that level, we need to change our sponsorship strategy. For one thing, we will strengthen our nation-wide presence; for another, we have to systematically enhance the overall impact.
EVONIK MAGAZINE The four-year process we’ve talked about will culminate in the upcoming announcement of the company’s new name. Do
you like it?
MÜLLER: Well, I was initially a bit surprised, but it looks and sounds good
and can be easily understood all over the world. But ultimately we’ll be
making a name for ourselves through what we do. If our operations are
good, it will be a good name; if they aren’t, it won’t help us much. <
22
SHAPING
BUSINESS AREAS
Strength and
Substance
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES, KARSTEN BOOTMANN,
CHRISTIAN SCHLÜTER (FROM LEFT)
The new globally operating industrial group from the Ruhr region is active in the
growth markets chemicals, energy, and real estate. Thanks to its specialists and its
creative problem solutions, it occupies leading positions in these markets and is
set to expand them even further in the future. The megatrends of mobility, energy
security, and our growing life expectancy are the foundation of Evonik Industries
AG’s long-term earning power. After all, the things it makes are essential elements
of our everyday lives. Evonik’s products range from facials to biofuels and
from residential facility management to the electricity from our wall sockets.
Chemicals
23
Energy
Real Estate
24
SHAPING
CHEMICALS
25
CHEMICALS
Leading the Global Market
The chemicals specialists from Evonik Industries AG are turning today’s dreams into
tomorrow’s successful products, and the Group into a high flier on the capital markets
TEXT CHRISTOPH PECK
Floating through the air,
light as a feather — who
would do that? Evonik,
of course, with its
innovative hard foams
that are both light
and extremely strong
PHOTOGRAPHY: KNSK/ANATOL KOTTE
MORE THAN 36,000 employees work
in the Chemicals Business Area of Evonik
Industries AG. The Business Area is itself
divided into 12 Business Units. Together,
these units generated revenues of €10.9 billion last year. Evonik is active in the interesting areas of specialty chemicals, where
it is the world’s leading supplier. More than
80 percent of its revenues are generated
with products with which Evonik is a market leader worldwide. Production locations
exist in 60 countries around the world.
The group’s diverse operations extend
over an extremely wide range of applications, including body care, space travel,
sports shoes, automobiles, anti-aging products, sound insulation, aircraft production,
and printable electronics. Evonik’s chemicals activities are represented on all continents and are thus always close to its customers. Carbon black, for example, which
increases the durability of automobile tire
carcasses, is manufactured in Brazil as
well as in China and the Rhenish village of
Kalscheuren. Evonik’s innovative power is
also exemplified by the fact that 20 percent
of all of the Business Area’s products are
less than five years old. It therefore comes
as no surprise that Dr. Klaus Engel, who has
been a member of Evonik’s Management
Board for the past 18 months and is chairman of the management of the Chemicals
Business Area, answers promptly when
asked what he enjoys most about his new
job: “The incredibly diverse range of different products, the various markets, and
the challenges we face” (see the interview
on page 31).
So what exactly is Evonik’s Chemicals Business Area? Well, for one thing,
it’s an Area with a long and eventful history. It was formed through the merger of
several predecessor companies like Stockhausen, Röhm, SKW, and Theodor Goldschmidt, whose origins in some cases reach
back into the first half of the 19th century. By 2001, these businesses had been
gradually collected under the umbrella of >
26
SHAPING
CHEMICALS
SEPARION is the first-ever ceramic film and an indispensable ingredient of today’s lithium batteries
> Degussa. Merging the companies boosted
their strength and ability to tackle international challenges. In 2004 Degussa became
a subgroup of RAG. It is now the largest of
Evonik’s Business Areas, encompassing
twelve of the Group’s 14 Business Units.
The Chemicals Business Units’ main focus is on specialty chemicals. They manufacture products and provide solutions that
are not defined by their price but by their
utility and added value for customers. But
what is at the heart of the 12 Chemicals Business Units? Are there common elements, or
does each one merely focus on boosting its
own performance? To find the answers, we
asked Dr. Alfred Oberholz, the Management
Board member of Chemicals who is responsible for innovations. He whips out a pad on
which he begins to draw lines and crosshatch areas. “If you look at today’s chemical research, there is very little that’s new
coming from mainstream areas,” he says.
“Things get more interesting at the boundaries between the various areas and disciplines. This applies to large-scale areas such
as the boundary between chemistry and biology, as well as to small-scale areas such as
the boundaries between our Business Units,
where there is a lively exchange of ideas.”
Promoting this exchange of ideas is the
key task of the two Evonik board members
responsible for Chemicals. “If we always
STOCKOSORB granulated soil stores water and lets palms
raise barriers in our thoughts between the
individual Business Units, valuable synergies will remain unexploited,” says Engel.
“Overall success is more important than
successes in individual markets.” This applies to both commercial success and the
creation of innovations. The company’s research activities are so well organized that
they have been copied by its competitors.
The research is conducted in so-called project houses, in which researchers from various disciplines work on a joint topic for three
years, as well as in science-to-business centers, which open up new areas of business.
THE FUTURE STARTS HERE
Let’s take a closer look at the company by
examining four examples that express the
Chemicals Business Area’s charm as well as
its power. We will begin our examination by
going to the company’s largest production
location, which is in Marl, Germany, where
we’ll find out what researchers’ dreams are
made of. For example, there’s the Müller
family, who are sick and tired of having to
pay excessively high utility bills. They therefore decide to generate their own electricity for their single-family home. To do so,
they call a painter to come by. Although this
might sound odd, it’s not. That’s because
power connections in the basement or blue
solar cells on the roof are things of the past.
PHOTOGRAPHY: STEFAN WILDHIRTH, GETTY IMAGES, CORBIS (FROM LEFT)
27
Ceramides made in Evonik labs are used in anti-aging creams for the skin
Nowadays, painters simply cover the facade
with a special paint, and the electric meter
begins to count. The paint contains a photovoltaic substance that converts sunlight into
electricity. Although this sounds farfetched,
it won’t be for much longer. To make sure
such visions of the future become reality is
the task of the experts from Evonik’s Chemicals Business Area.
Every morning when they arrive for
work, the employees are welcomed by a
message engraved in the floor of the lobby:
“The Future Starts Here” is written in red
letters on the threshold to the offices and
labs of the Science-to-Business Center
Nanotronics in the Marl Chemistry Park.
This is the entrance to the world of the
smallest things. The following comparisons
illustrate the scale at which nanotechnologists conduct their research: a collection of
100 x 100 million carbon atoms would be as
big as the period at the end of this sentence.
And a human hair would have to be split
50,000 times in order to obtain a strand
that’s one nanometer in thickness.
The key word in the current research efforts is “printable.” If transistors can be
printed — i.e. if the requisite materials can
be produced as nanotechnological elements
in paste form and sprayed onto chips like ink
onto paper — this will radically reduce the
price of photovoltaic cells as well as displays >
Exploiting valuable synergies
to ensure overall success
flourish in arid Dubai
Evonik Board member Dr. Alfred Oberholz is in charge of innovations at Chemicals
Fast, safe, and still economical — cars contain many chemicals
The future is
being made in
our labs
Playing with fire but remaining unharmed — invisible fire protection
> and TV screens. By the same token, so-
called Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) chips will become much cheaper,
since the use of today’s expensive silicon
wafer technology will no longer be required.
Batteries are also about to undergo a revolution. Here, Evonik already produces
SEPARION — a material that looks, folds, and
crumples like paper, but is in fact made of
ceramic and helps increase the safety and
power of lithium-ion batteries. As a result,
car batteries will look quite different in the
future, and the batteries for computers,
camcorders, and cell phones will become
significantly more powerful.
A few meters down the road is another
science-to-business center. We are transplanted from the world of nanoparticles to
that of renewable resources. “In the chemicals industry, the utilization of renewable
raw materials is set to become one of the
most important research topics in the coming years,” says Evonik Management Board
member Oberholz. While chemistry was
based on coal in the days of our fathers, the
primary source material for basic chemicals
and plastics today is petroleum. But oil is becoming scarcer and more expensive, which
is why it makes sense for companies to look
for alternatives: renewable raw materials.
Biodiesel, produced from rapeseed oil,
is one such product; another one is the spe-
cial amino acids added to animal feed. These
amino acids are also of interest to pharmaceuticals companies — e.g. for the production of infusions — and cosmetics manufacturers — for skin creams, shampoos, and
lotions. The field as a whole is now known
as “white biotechnology.” “We are intelligently combining biology with chemistry,”
is how Dr. Thomas Haas, who heads the center, describes his work.
To find out how this is done, we go to the
office of Dr. Andreas Karau, who mixes
sugar with certain microorganisms in a fermenter. This triggers a process in which the
organisms transform the sugar into a chemical product. Although this might sound simple, the process is in fact highly complex. On
the wall of Karau’s office hangs a schematic
representation of the metabolic process
within a cell. To the inexperienced eye, the
diagram is nothing but an impenetrable snarl
of lines of varying thickness. “That’s where
our expertise comes in,” explains Karau.
“We know the relevant pathways within the
cell, and we know which ones we have to
widen and which ones to block off.”
It’s not only a question of identifying the
best source of carbon — at present it’s sugar,
but soon it might be straw — but also, above
all, of optimizing the various strains of microorganisms and modifying them, with the
help of genetic engineering or other meth-
PHOTOGRAPHY: RED MOTORSPORT, EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG,
DPA/PICTURE-ALLIANCE (FROM LEFT)
29
on sheets of glass
Heavy, yet quick to take off — ROHACELL helps reduce the weight of the A380
ods, to do what they are supposed to do consistently and not simply at random.
LIGHT AND FAST
But now let’s switch over to the town of Spa
in Belgium, where two Lotus Exige race cars
finished third and sixth, respectively, in their
class during the Euro Races last June. “It was
a great success,” says an elated Martin Roos,
who was one of the drivers and who heads the
Red motor sports team from Heiligenhaus,
south of Essen. The race cars included products developed by the Evonik Automotive Industry Team (AIT). The task of this global
cross-divisional team is to identify business
opportunities and technological trends in the
automotive sector, which is Evonik’s Chemicals Business Area’s third-largest sales market. Evonik products can be found in tires, lubricants, and batteries. They are used for
lightweight vehicle construction and are also
contained in pipes, injection-molded components, adhesive joints, paints, films and coatings, head and tail lights, displays (LED systems), and interior lighting systems. Taken
together, automotive activities generate revenues of more than €1.5 billion, and revenues are increasing at a higher rate than the
industry is expanding, which means that
“Evonik keeps gaining new business,” as
Klaus Hedrich, the director of AIT, puts it.
“We work at both ends: we make the indus-
try aware of our expertise and also provide
information to our research and development
departments on what the automotive industry is interested in. To do this, we use the Lotus for demonstrating technologies.”
The cars are used, for example, to demonstrate the properties of ROHACELL, a hard
foam made of polymethacrylamide, which is
a type of acrylic glass. Its distinguishing characteristic is that although it’s both extremely
hard and extremely light, it can also be bent
into different shapes when heated. The foam
is always used as a rigidity-enhancing core for
structures with outer layers such as carbon fiber, for example in aircraft construction (e.g.
in vertical winglets), medical systems, sports,
helicopters, and wind turbine rotors.
The team’s activities are guided by the
fact that although Evonik’s Chemicals Business Area is only a tier-two supplier (a supplier of suppliers), it has to deal directly with
the automakers to show them it has the necessary expertise for such applications and to
make it clear that Evonik’s know-how can
lead to innovative product developments that
make automobiles more economical, more
environmentally friendly, safer, and more attractive. This is done through presentations
organized by the AIT for automotive events
and auto shows. The small Lotus Exige is an
ideal tool for establishing contact with potential business partners. After all, the pit lanes
at Spa, Silverstone, the Nürburgring or Zandvoort are perfect places for talking shop with
automotive developers and for paving the
way for new business deals.
Another growth market where Evonik’s
Chemicals Business Area operates is China.
Shanghai’s Xinzhuang district was a humdrum suburb only a few years ago. Today
it’s the place to be, and not only because of
its huge tennis stadium, where renowned
tournaments are held. Besides its headquarters in Beijing, Evonik Degussa (China)
Co. Ltd., the holding company for the
Group’s chemicals activities in China, is
also present in Shanghai. Set up in late
2002, the holding now has around 4,000
employees in China. In the coming three
years it plans to increase its revenues of
€460 million to over €800 million.
BOOM MARKET CHINA
The holding’s competitiveness is demonstrated by the fact that the research and development center in Xinzhuang had to be
significantly expanded last August, even
though the company had only existed for
three years. That “exemplifies our continuing involvement in China,” said Oberholz
at the official opening of the center’s expansion. This involvement is particularly
evident at a location around 40 kilometers
from Shanghai, where the company is cre- >
30
SHAPING
CHEMICALS
“Investing in
Growth Regions”
Evonik Industries AG Management Board member
Dr. Klaus Engel talks about the prospects
of the Chemicals Business Area on the world’s markets
Business Units at one location. At the heart
of the site is a plant of the Methacrylates to
China project, or MATCH for short (RAG
Magazin 2/2007). The plant will commence operations in 2009, producing
around 100,000 metric tons a year of LCD
screen materials, scratch-proof paints,
high-grade adhesives, and interior panels
for automobiles.
All the signs point unmistakably to
growth. “We’re now entering phase two of
our China story,” says Dr. Dahai Yu, Regional President for Greater China. “The focus is on qualitative growth. We want China
to make a substantial contribution to the
company’s business in 2010.”
These four examples from twelve business units are just a small sampling of an incredible variety of different projects and
products. We could have also mentioned diapers with enormous absorbing power,
high-performance adhesives, fire protection glass and lots more — the stories would
all be just as exciting, surprising, and, above
all, innovative, because all the people working at Evonik’s Chemicals Business Area are
inspired by the same ideas: they want to
open up markets and create new ones. They
use their creativity to search for the products of tomorrow and thereby create exciting new prospects for their company. <
> ating a multi-user site for several different
31
EVONIK MAGAZINE Dr. Engel, what makes the
Chemicals Business Area so fascinating for the
capital markets?
DR. KLAUS ENGEL Chemicals has great prospects for future growth because its products and
customer solutions can make a major contribution to all important megatrends. By that I mean
mobility, communications, health and wellness, energy efficiency, and renewable energy
sources. In addition, our products make automobiles and airplanes safer, lighter, and more fuelefficient. They help ensure a reliable supply of
silicon, which is a scarce resource, and they improve the quality of animal feeds, the manufacturing process for modern pharmaceutical products, and much more.
EVONIK MAGAZINE What are the most important markets for the future?
ENGEL We’ve begun building up a global production and sales network. Eastern Europe, Asia,
and Latin America in particular are markets that
are growing much more rapidly than western
Europe. We want to participate in this growth
through our existing products and new ones.
We’ve been very successful in this regard over
the last two years, as we’ve posted growth of
more than 20 percent in some of the countries
in these regions.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Where do you plan to focus investment in the future?
ENGEL Basically, the key factors in our decisions
about production locations include the cost of
raw materials, infrastructure, logistics, highly
trained personnel and, of course, the proximity
of key customers. For example, while planning
our recent “Methacrylates to China” major investment project — also known as MATCH —
we found that Shanghai offered the best location.
We also just commissioned a carbon black facility
in South America, a region where we’re already
well positioned, and we’ve expanded our Isophorone chemistry operations in Herne because
Germany offers us an outstanding infrastructure
and the greatest amount of expertise for this activity. In the future as well, we will continue to
invest wherever there are promising growth opportunities or possibilities to generate synergies
between production locations. That certainly applies to Asia, but also to other regions. To put it
simply, we need to be present everywhere where
it’s required by the markets.
EVONIK MAGAZINE How important is innovation here?
ENGEL It’s very important — in the area of chemicals especially, because as a German company we
have labor costs that are not competitive everywhere in the world. We therefore have to make
our business processes more efficient, introduce
better system solutions, and ultimately offer better products. That’s only possible through direct
interaction with markets and customers, which is
DR. KLAUS ENGEL,
51, is one of Germany’s most experienced
managers in the chemicals industry. Engel, who
has a Ph.D. in chemistry, enjoyed a spectacular
career at VEBA, Stinnes, and Chemische Werke
Hüls before he was appointed Management
Board Chairman of Brenntag AG in Mülheim an
der Ruhr in 2001. Engel became Management
Board Chairman of Degussa AG in 2006 and was
appointed Chairman of the Managing Board
of Degussa GmbH in the same year. At Evonik,
Engel and his colleague and fellow chemist
Dr. Alfred Oberholz, 55, share responsibility
for the Chemicals Business Area.
why our Business Units have adopted a productfocused development approach. Research geared
toward the long term is conducted with our technology platforms, which operate across all units
and strengthen our key areas of expertise. Examples include biotechnology, functional films, and
catalysis. But it’s important that researchers and
marketing experts work hand in hand in these areas as well, as it allows us to significantly reduce
the time it takes to turn an idea into a marketable product. I take it as a compliment that some
of our competitors are already trying to copy our
efforts in this regard.
EVONIK MAGAZINE How is the new Group responding to capital market analysts’ criticism of
conglomerates?
ENGEL These generalizations became irrelevant
a long time ago. Many conglomerate stocks have
actually outperformed other companies’ securities over the last few years. The most important
tasks in terms of the stock market are to convince
investors of your company’s growth prospects
and to set ambitious goals for yourself that you
can achieve. We’ve got excellent prospects for
growth and are already performing well financially. We’re going to continue this success story,
and then our share will definitely be successful
as well.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You’ve had many years of
experience in the chemicals industry. Which aspect of your job at Evonik Industries has brought
you the most pleasure so far?
ENGEL What I like most is the sheer variety of
the challenges I’ve had to deal with. In terms of
the corporate culture, we’ve readjusted the balance between decentralized responsibility and
cooperation across the Business Units, incorporated regional expertise to a larger extent, and
focused our activities more strongly on customers and sales. <
32
SHAPING
ENERGY
33
ENERGY
Fuel for Growth
The world’s thirst for energy offers great opportunities for Evonik Industries AG’s creative
products, which range from household electricity to complete power plants
TEXT WIELAND KRAMER
Though presented
in an entertaining way
in advertisements,
Evonik takes very
seriously its commitment to providing
customized power
plants for every
conceivable need,
and in all regions
around the globe
EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG is the fifth
largest producer of electricity in Germany.
With revenues of €3 billion, its Energy
Business Area forms a central component of
the new Group, one that can be relied upon
for secure earnings and excellent business
opportunities for the future — especially as
the energy market is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.
Growing populations and dynamic economic development around the world are
leading to a sharp increase in global energy
consumption. Economic growth will be
particularly strong in Asia, and energy requirements in the region can therefore be
expected to rise sharply.
Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hanover
estimates that electricity consumption in
China alone will increase from 2,470 to
5,100 terawatts (TW) in the period between 2005 and 2020 — that's about 106
percent higher than the current figure. In
addition, high raw materials prices are also
forcing all countries to strive for greater
energy efficiency and broaden their energy
mix — two areas in which Evonik has a wealth
of experience.
Evonik’s energy activities range from
the production of electricity and heat in
large power plants and the consistent utilization of alternative forms of energy, such
as biomass and geothermal sources, to the
sale and transport of primary energy sources
like coal, and the provision of innovative engineering solutions for complete power
generation facilities.
The portfolio displays great flexibility
and variety, and includes:
• Major power plants in the Rhine-Ruhr
region and Saarland, with links to district
heating systems
• Distributed power projects scattered
throughout several regions
• Industrial power plants at chemical and
petrochemical facilities
• Power plants abroad in Turkey, the Philip>
pines, and Colombia.
34
SHAPING
ENERGY
The Herne CHP plant serves its entire region
Flexibility
and variety
on offer
Computer simulation of the Walsum 10 hard-coal power plant
> Evonik operates eight state-of-the-art coalfired power plants in Germany. These
facilities have a combined rated output of
approximately 7,000 megawatts (MW) and
produce around 40 billion kilowatt-hours
(kWh) of power each year.
For decades, the plants in the Lower
Rhine area and the central and eastern sections of the Ruhr District have been among
the most important energy facilities in the
region. There are also three coal-fired
plants in Saarland that have a combined output of 2,000 MW. All of these facilities are
operated either by Evonik itself or in cooperation with other power suppliers, including major electricity producers and local
utilities.
The latest examples of the flexibility
and sustainability of Evonik’s energy concept are its partnership with the Austrian
energy supplier EVN AG for construction
of the new Block 10 at the Walsum plant,
and the inclusion of nearly 30 regional and
municipal power supply companies in the
project for the new Block 5 in Herne.
A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Voerde, Walsum, Herne, Lünen, Bergkamen, Bexbach, Fenne, Weiher — the names
of these Evonik power plants in Germany
stand for reliable supply and modern tech-
nology. These facilities have been optimally
integrated into densely populated and highly
industrialized regions, and thus offer a perfect reference for new-build projects pursued by Evonik. The rapid approval of new
hard-coal blocks in Walsum and Herne
would not have been possible, for example,
without foresighted planning by Evonik.
With its Clean Competitive Electricity
from Coal (CCEC) concept, Evonik was
among the first power plant operators to begin reducing emissions at hard-coal facilities. In pursuit of this goal the Group has
been developing and introducing state-ofthe-art technology.
The new Block 10 in Walsum will convert its hard coal into heat and energy at better than 45-percent efficiency. Although
this rating is five percent higher than that of
other new hard-coal plants, pollutant emissions will be 15 percent lower.
Such modern facilities make a tremendous contribution to environmental protection, especially as energy experts estimate
power plants with a combined output of
40,000 MW will have to either be built or
modernized in Germany over the next 20
years, at a total cost of €50 billion. The 45percent efficiency will be achieved not only
by increasing the pressure and temperature
in the plant’s water-steam cycle, but also by
using ultra-modern materials.
PHOTOGRAPHY: EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG (2), FRANK PREUSS (LEFT TO RIGHT)
35
Unloading coal from giant cargo ships to the Iskenderun power plant: The Transshipper
Evonik is also a leader in recycling power
plant byproducts: From 45 plants in Germany and neighboring countries alone, the
company takes in a total of 3.9 million tons
of residual waste per year in the form of flue
ash, granulates, and boiler slag. The waste
is then recycled and used in the construction and cement industries as high-quality
raw material.
Evonik believes the ability to generate
electricity at competitive prices does not depend solely on technology. Instead, it is a
skill that also requires the integration of
planning, construction, management, and
maintenance organizations, and the active
participation of financial specialists, environmental engineers, and logistics experts.
In other words, the secrets of Evonik’s success are foreseeable investment costs, a
maximum level of standardization, short
construction times, rapid commissioning,
short repair and adjustment times, and optimal facility locations.
German energy technology’s outstanding reputation worldwide is due to its extraordinary performance in these areas. Iskenderun, Paipa, Mindanao: Three names in
three regions that tell the same success story
of power plants made in Germany. Engineers and technicians from Evonik are also
hard at work in other countries in South
America and East Asia, ensuring that power
plants there can be operated safely and
economically.
Success abroad is possible thanks to a sophisticated concept that calls for developing plants and operating them over the long
term in an economical and environmentally
friendly manner — and in accordance with
regional needs. The planning process for
the Termopaipa project (165 MW) in
Colombia, for example, takes into account
the topographical conditions of a high-altitude region and the small-scale structure
of the local coal mining industry. The
Iskenderun plant (1,320 MW), which went
online in 2004, makes an important contribution to safe, reliable, and diversified
power generation in Turkey on the basis of
imported coal. Here, Evonik came up with
an innovative solution for coal deliveries in
the shallow waters of the Bay of Iskenderun
in the form of a mobile coal loading station
known as the Transshipper. Meanwhile, the
power plant on Mindanao in the Philippines
(232 MW) has not only improved energy
supplies on the island; accompanying longterm infrastructure measures have also
made for a better quality of life for local
residents.
Climate protection and emission reductions were a top priority for research and
business operations at Evonik long before
the current public debate on CO2 began.
Combined heat and power plants (CHP) that
produce electricity and heat simultaneously
have a long tradition in the Ruhr region, for
example.
A GROWING DEMAND
FOR CHP PLANTS
The efficient technology for CHP has been
used in the region for decades to provide
industry and public networks with steam,
heat, and pressurized air. The Ruhr District
Heating Network — one of the largest district heating systems in Germany — stretches
over a distance of approximately 550 kilometers and supplies 2.1 billion kWh of heat
per year. A large portion of the network’s
heat is generated by the Herne heating
plant.
And extraction of heat and process steam
is of great significance in Saarland as well,
where the Saar District Heating Network
covers a distance of around 280 kilometers,
serving major industrial customers. Also
one of the biggest district heating systems
in Germany, the Saar network produces approximately 875 million kWh of heat per
year.
CHP plants at six Evonik locations ensure
significantly higher primary energy efficiency and an environmentally friendly
emission balance, as combined heat and
power generation plays a key role in reduc- >
36
SHAPING
ENERGY
Electricity from scrap wood: Conveyor at the Lünen biomass plant
Market leader
for biomass
and geothermal
power
Energy production in Fenne: Mine gas is used to generate electricity and heat
> ing CO2 emissions. The total output of Evonik’s energy-district heating systems is currently around 3,200 MW, which corresponds
to the heating requirements of more than
450,000 households.
Mine gas — for centuries, every miner’s
worst nightmare — is increasingly in demand
these days as a fuel that helps reduce CO2
emissions. Evonik is tapping into gas deposits at Germany’s two largest coal-mining locations: In Saarland, mine gas is captured
and stored in a more than 110-kilometer
grid that feeds into industrial plants. The gas
is also used at Evonik facilities. In addition,
Evonik operates the world’s biggest motordriven mine gas power plant in Fenne,
thereby helping to prevent the release of one
million tons of CO2.
In the Rhine and Ruhr regions, the use of
mine gas is decentralized. Here, the mine gas
is used instead of natural gas, which helps to
conserve resources and guarantee reliable
supplies. The generation of electricity and
heat with the help of mine gas was given a
big boost by the technology’s inclusion in
Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act.
This means energy generated from mine gas
now has the same ecological standing as
power from the sun, wind, water, and
biomass.
Evonik is convinced that the increased
use of coal worldwide will cause many Kyoto
Protocol signatories with coal reserves to increase their use of mine gas as an energy
source.
The Group is currently seeking to initiate mine gas projects through discussions
with representatives from the world’s most
important coal mining regions. One such
project is a joint venture with China’s
Huainan Group, which will involve installing a heat-power-cooling facility at the Guqiao mines that uses mine gas as its energy
source and also reduces CO2 emissions.
Evonik is also building degasification/
mine gas-recycling systems at three Russian
mining facilities operated by Vorkutaugol.
These units are expected to lower CO2
emissions by 12.2 million tons between
2008 and 2012. Evonik’s stated goal is “to
make extensive use of mine gas as an energy
resource and thus contribute by 2020 to a
20-percent or more reduction of CO2 emissions from their 1990 levels.”
DISTRIBUTED POWER SYSTEMS
AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
One of the special characteristics of the German energy market is its variety of fuels and
energy technologies. The scope and competitive structure of the country’s electricity market requires the use of large power
generation facilities that can be operated
very reliably and efficiently. At the same
PHOTOGRAPHY: EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG (2), GERHARD BLANK (LEFT TO RIGHT)
37
A spa in Erding: Geothermal power for district heating and recreation
time, a market for distributed power systems continues to develop. Industrial companies and municipalities in particular view
localized power and heat generation as a
way of effectively contributing to a more efficient energy supply that conserves
resources.
Evonik has been active in the market for
distributed power systems for quite some
time, and the company is a sought-after partner for the construction and modernization
of industrial power plants, biomass plants,
and small CHP facilities. Distributed power
solutions are individually designed and benefit from the edge in expertise held by the
company ’s inter nat ionall y ac t i ve
engineers.
The generating capacity of Evonik distributed systems operated either by the
Group or by outside companies in Germany
is currently approximately 800 MW. And
thanks to the competent management of distributed systems operated by Evonik, the
systems' output can balance out grid fluctuations, making a key contribution to power
grid stability in Germany.
The French tire manufacturer Michelin
operates its largest German production facility in Bad Kreuznach, which employs
about 1,700 people. Large amounts of steam
and electricity are required for tire production at the location, which is why Evonik is
implementing a new energy concept for Michelin. The concept is part of a full-service
contracting agreement.
The solution involves replacing the
plant’s conventional steam boilers with a gas
turbine system that includes a downstream
heat recovery boiler. This setup will make
Michelin more or less energy independent.
The energy center built by Evonik in Bad
Kreuznach will produce more than 278,000
tons of steam and 85,000 megawatt-hours
(MWh) of electricity per year. The contracting agreement, initially set to run for a period of 12 years, will provide the tire manufacturer with state-of-the-art energy
technology while also substantially reducing costs. Evonik companies and the municipal power authority in Bad Kreuznach are
also cooperating on other contracting projects in the town.
EARLY COMMITMENT
TO BIOMASS
When it comes to the use of primary energy
sources, there are practically no limits to the
possibilities available for generating electricity and heat. Evonik’s philosophy includes the idea of exploiting the full potential of energy reserves in Germany. Such an
approach lowers the risk associated with energy imports and strengthens value chains,
thereby creating jobs. It also promotes tech-
nological development and contributes in
many cases to environmental and climatic
protection.
Evonik became committed at an early
stage to efficient and environmentally
friendly processing of biomass to produce
electricity, and it is now one of the leading
German companies in this sector. The Group
now operates ten biomass facilities for combined heat and power generation, whereby
some 540,000 tons of scrap wood is used to
produce 350,000 MWh of electricity and
500,000 MWh of heat each year.
Last year, a scrap-wood biomass heating
plant with an output of 20 MW began operating in the city of Lünen, within the framework of a partnership between Evonik, the
local power utility, and North Rhine-Westphalia’s leading waste disposal company.
The Lünen facility — and two others in Illmenau and Traunreut — will efficiently convert up to 200,000 tons of scrap wood per
year into environmentally friendly electricity and heat.
Depending on conditions at a given location, Evonik either offers the heat produced
as process steam for industrial applications
or else channels it into district heating systems in the area.
Still a relatively young business field at
Evonik is geothermal energy. The company’s initial experience in this area dates back >
38
SHAPING
ENERGY
“We’re Significantly Boosting
Our Earning Power”
Evonik Industries AG Board member Dr. Alfred Tacke plans
to expand the Group’s technological leadership
EVONIK MAGAZINE Investors and financial
markets expect public companies to produce
solid results and offer exciting prospects for the
future. What does your Business Area have to offer in this regard?
DR. ALFRED TACKE We have a fascinating history of growth. We move with the market and
do business in those regions where demand for
power is rising sharply — for example, in Eastern
and Southeastern Europe, Russia, and Asia.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Your power plant on Mindanao in the Philippines…
> to the early 1990s. And today, Evonik is operating geothermal power plants located in
Erding, Simbach-Braunau, and Unterschleißheim. The geothermal plant in Erding,
which went online back in 1998, will soon be
boosting its output of energy for the district
heating system to 63 MW in a second step.
A reliable supply of fuel is one of the key
links in the coal-electricity value chain.
With a market share of more than 50 percent, Evonik is the German market leader in
domestic and international coal trading. The
company’s marketing of domestic coal and
its access to the dynamically developing
global coal market is not only crucial for the
reliable and economical operation of Evonik’s own power plants; operators of many
other coal-fired plants and companies in the
iron and steel industry also rely on Evonik’s
many years of experience here. Meticulous
quality management and a sophisticated logistics system that optimally utilizes the
available transport infrastructure are extremely important when it comes to efficient coal trading and sales operations.
Evonik’s coal trading unit sells approximately 36 million tons of hard coal each year
not only to customers in the power generation and heating sectors but also to clients in
the iron and steel industries. <
LEADER IN COAL TRADING
39
TACKE …is an outstanding reference project
that is extremely important for our future plans,
whereby we’re interested not only in Mindanao
but also the entire Southeast Asia region. The
emerging markets here are relying on coal to create a solid and affordable foundation for their dynamic growth. And China is already engaged in
a tremendous expansion of coal-based electricity production. Our power generation technologies, which offer high levels of efficiency at low
levels of emissions, ensure sustainable and competitive electricity production. Our partners in
Turkey know this, which is why we’re now considering construction of a third block in
Iskenderun.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Aren’t you also talking to
energy suppliers in Russia?
TACKE Yes, and I’m very impressed with developments there. Russia is an outstanding place
for German companies to invest. We recently
showed representatives from Russia’s energy
DR. ALFRED TACKE
56, began serving as
a state secretary at the
German Ministry of
Economics and Labor in
October 1998. He was
appointed a member of
the STEAG Management
Board on December 1,
2004, and became CEO
of STEAG AG on January
1, 2005. Tacke has been
managing director of
STEAG GmbH and a
member of the management board of RAG
Beteiligungs-AG since
January 2, 2007, on
which date STEAG AG
was formally reconstituted as STEAG GmbH
sector our latest power plant projects in Walsum and Herne, and I’m very confident that we’ll
soon be cooperating extensively with Russian
companies in power generation and district
heating projects.
EVONIK MAGAZINE And how is business developing in Germany?
TACKE Our plant construction projects in Duisburg-Walsum and Herne are moving forward on
schedule: Walsum 10 will go online in 2010,
and we expect to obtain final approval for Herne
in 2008. Our partners at the municipal utility in
Herne have contracted for a total of 600 megawatts, which is a major success for our model.
The remaining net output will, among other
uses, guarantee the supply of the Ruhr District
Heating network, so the project is definitely off
to a good start.
EVONIK MAGAZINE The planned expansion
of renewable energy activities and the decisions made with regard to the second trading
period for emission certificates have significantly changed the playing field for hard-coal
power plants.
TACKE Yes, that’s true. The second National Allocation Plan and the EU’s package of energy
and climate policy measures have created a new
situation.
EVONIK MAGAZINE What exactly does this
mean?
TACKE I expect it means that if current conditions continue, it will no longer make sense economically to build new hard-coal power plants
in Germany after 2012. The planned increase
of the share of renewable energy sources in the
electricity mix to between 25 and 30 percent
will also have a negative impact on the hard-coal
sector after 2012. In addition, planning will be
made more difficult by the uncertainties associated with the allocation of emission certificates
after that same year. Finally, the global boom in
contracts is making facility construction more
expensive.
EVONIK MAGAZINE How are you reacting to
this development?
TACKE By picking up the pace. We’ve moved into
the project and construction phases more quickly
than the competition. And the Walsum and Herne
projects were launched at an early stage; our partnership models reduce risks; and our technology
guarantees profitable results.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Is that enough?
TACKE No, which is why we’re stepping up our
investments in renewable energy sources. Our
biomass activities are already successful, but
limited resource availability means we can only
achieve so much in that sector. We will therefore expand geothermal and biogas activities in
the future.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Why?
TACKE It’s the next logical step. Geothermal
power already offers interesting potential; biogas activities are still in their early stages. Both
activities offer outstanding export potential,
however.
EVONIK MAGAZINE How did STEAG prepare
for its new role in the Group?
TACKE We focused on power generation and
discontinued gas distribution activities and the
thermal recycling of residual materials. We’re
now expanding electricity production with renewable raw materials and aggressively pursuing business opportunities abroad. Another key
business field for us is coal trading. With annual
sales of around €1 billion, it not only makes a
significant financial impact, but the expansion
of our trading activities helps ensure reliability
of supply at our facilities and those operated by
our partners.
EVONIK MAGAZINE How are you getting your
employees involved in these processes?
TACKE Employee expertise and international
experience are crucial for a company that operates in a competitive market. Extensive and direct cooperation between management and staff
is a top priority for us, which is why many employees are directly involved in decision-making processes. Ultimately, this benefits the company as well.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Evonik has three pillars.
How closely are they linked?
TACKE Chemicals and Energy are connected
by materials expertise and market knowledge,
and especially with regard to renewable energy sources. The Chemicals Business Area
also needs to be supplied with sufficient energy
and raw materials at competitive prices. Other
major chemical companies can serve as a model
for us in this sense. The real estate sector currently faces great challenges in terms of energy
efficiency and conservation — so that’s the link
there. Everyone needs energy, which is why
it’s the common element of all three of our
Business Areas. <
40
SHAPING
REAL ESTATE
41
REAL ESTATE
A Good Return on Investment
With a vacancy rate that is lower than average for the sector,
Evonik Industries AG is a premium company with very bright prospects for the future
TEXT MARTIN KUHNA
PHOTOGRAPHY CATRIN MORITZ
Plans for the
future have
many faces
— whether
carved in a tree
or written in
a letter — and
they always
include “home
sweet home”
REAL ESTATE is the third pillar of Evonik
Industries AG. It’s an interesting market, especially since international investors have
for some time been turning to German real
estate as a first-rate investment. Most of the
investors are interested only in fast profits,
however, and see residential real estate as
properties for speculation.
Evonik is different. Our guiding principle is sustainability. The company develops
its real estate for the long term, keeps a balanced portfolio of properties, and optimizes
its offerings for business success, but without treating the fast profit as the measure
of all things. In its portfolio of more than
60,000 apartments, the company sees
potential for long-term growth with good
returns. Our managers are guided by a
sustainable concept: the apartments are
well-maintained and renovated in line with
changing needs and demographic developments. “Creating and maintaining outstand-
ing residences” is the guiding principle behind this policy.
“That’s a demanding assignment,” says
Dr. Peter Schörner, Evonik Management
Board member responsible for Real Estate,
“one that we will continue to master, while
displaying social responsibility and economic efficiency in our operations.”
Schörner, a highly experienced finance expert, wants to demonstrate that a socially responsible real estate company can also be
profitable — even profitable enough to attract stock market investors. With an eye to
the Evonik initial public offering (IPO),
Schörner has already introduced measures
designed to further optimize structures and
processes (see interview on pages 46–47).
At the same time, he resolved to implement
a business model designed for the long term
— one that would give an economic advantage over market competitors.
Maintaining and further developing a
real estate portfolio today clearly involves
more work than in the past. The days when
people simply built homes, made the occa- >
42
SHAPING
REAL ESTATE
Gewerkenstrasse in Essen-Altenessen is typical of the Real Estate Business Area’s
> sional repair, and then raked in rental in-
come are long gone. It’s often the case that
being successful requires more than just offering attractive, modernized apartments
for moderate rents. Keeping tenants satisfied — with an eye toward preventing vacancies and avoiding a difficult fluctuation — requires innovative concepts geared toward
the different interests of tenants and buyers. For Evonik that means implementing
an intelligent program of revitalization
and renovation in numerous residential
complexes.
Given the “graying” of the population, for
example, there are several projects designed
to ensure the availability of senior-friendly
apartments, with features including groundlevel accessibility without thresholds, bathrooms designed to accommodate seniors’
needs, space for walkers and wheelchairs, as
well as a range of support options provided
by partners.
FEATURES FOR YOUNG FAMILIES
Young families are offered an array of apartments, duplex and single-family houses, to
rent or purchase. And younger singles also
require living spaces that are tailored to
their specific needs. The way in which such
different tenant groups co-exist today — not
too close to one another, but also not entirely
separate like 30 years ago — is a factor that
plays a decisive role in how well a complex,
neighborhood or district functions. Achieving a balanced population of residents is
clearly a key to ensuring that a residential
area functions well, and that the lifestyles of
people of different ages and demographic
groups will complement one another.
Sounds like badly paid social work,
doesn’t it? “At first glance, you might say
that,” says Heinz-Werner Buhren, head of
Evonik’s regional office in Westphalia. “But
actually it is one of the prerequisites for ensuring our long-term cash flow,” Buhren
says during our talk in the new Essen/Bottrop Customer Center. The center manages
the apartments in the north of Essen, with a
wonderfully low vacancy rate of only 1.17
percent.
Kay Michael Mastalski is the Customer
Center’s director. “Our Customer Center
team has the job of designing the neighborhood,” he says with confidence. In EssenVogelheim, for example, the specialists from
the Customer Center had determined there
was a modest demand for small, inexpensive
apartments. Four buildings here that were
slated for demolition were saved from the
wrecking ball, and their small apartments
were modernized — then quickly rented to
the right tenants.
A 1.17 percent vacancy rate isn’t a stroke
of luck. Begun by Evonik’s predecessor, the
renovation and new construction program
in the north of Essen has been under way for
ten years. The project involves housing
complexes built in the 1950s, during oldtime coal mining’s “last hurrah” period in
Altenessen. Forty years later, it was all too
obvious that these apartments were not going to be easy to rent, despite their technical
upgrading. “Creating desirable addresses,
preventing the emergence of ghettos, and
avoiding fluctuation,” — these were the objectives for the new designs, says Buhren.
And he can point to a number of success stories, including the Gewerkenstrasse and the
Krablerstrasse in Altenessen.
CREATING NEW STRUCTURES
The first project called for making fairly minor improvements to the surroundings. Then,
the following two projects, in the Hesslerstrasse and in the Bückmannsmühle, involved
structural interior renovation work. After all,
many apartments built in the post-war years
could easily be mistaken today for singles’
apartments. Back then, miners’ families of
two adults and two or three children typically
lived in spaces that a childless couple today
would find too small — not to mention outmoded floor plans and no balconies. That’s
why apartments were combined and made
larger, horizontally and vertically. Also added
were heat-insulating facades and windows,
43
well-cared for properties. Extensive planning resulted in a modern housing complex, where Jolina Giebels and Lea Potocnik feel right at home
new bathrooms, balconies, and new outdoor
features, including play areas.
The Bückmannsmühle is a showcase example of how to modernize apartments originally designed as single-storey units. On a
sunny Sunday here, we spoke with Fatma
Cüre, who was looking after her niece Ilayda,
age three. Fatma, 36, tells us she was born in
No. 12. Later she moved with her own growing family into No. 38, followed by a move to
No. 44. Finally, since the renovation’s completion, she’s been at home in No. 14. That’s
the kind of fluctuation any property management company would gladly live with. And
on the other side, Fatma’s parents still live in
the complex, close to her sister’s apartment.
Her other sister did move a few blocks away,
but she visits often because the Bückmannsmühle offers such a great play area for her
daughter — that’s Ilayda, who’s happily fetching a new toy from beneath the balcony.
That’s true customer loyalty. And why is
Fatma sitting in the garden in front of No. 33?
She explains that she’s visiting a neighbor.
That’s what you call a well-functioning
community.
Another approach used in housing development involves boosting the concentration
of homes in an existing residential area.
Where these areas include plenty of open
green space, a few new buildings can be
added — homes that are modern and appeal- >
Perfect planning and
long-term success
Long-term success in residential real estate is possible only
on the basis of long-term, thorough planning
44
SHAPING
REAL ESTATE
Strategic planning is important. In the Krablerstrasse in the north of Essen, Heide Krone-Surmann and Georg Surmann find the housing complex with its
Designing a
neighborhood
The Customer Centers know what the customers
want — and work with them to create a good environment
> ing but still in harmony with the style and
character of existing homes nearby. That increases the operating efficiency per square
meter, of course, and enables a company to
offer housing designs that would be difficult
to realize by means of renovations. This applies in particular to one-family homes,
which can be sold as well as rented.
In recent years the modernizers’ also have
turned to demolition on occasion. Many people tend to oppose this option at first. But today in the Johanniskirchstrasse complex in
Essen, it’s clear to see that demolition can be
a smart way to revitalize an area. Most of the
little red structures here — among the very
few homes built in Germany in the war year
1942 — are still standing in their spacious,
landscaped setting. It’s a scene that prompts
the question ‘Why tear them down?’. Well,
Buhren explains, it’s hard to get prospective
tenants even interested in them, never mind
to rent them, despite the green surroundings
and quiet but central location. They’re just
too small, with no balconies — the usual problem. The first seven buildings slated for demolition are already gone, with more to follow. By 2011 the site will feature a mixture
of modernized older homes and new, barrierfree rental apartments suitable for seniors —
with attractive architectural design and a
rainwater use concept that will grant a “second life” to surface water. Instead of being di-
45
three apartment buildings containing 18 apartments a nice place to live
verted immediately into rain gutters and fed
into underground sewer systems, the water
will run into open channels, pools, and ponds.
The concept is beneficial because the water
seeps slowly into the ground instead of being
mixed with wastewater after heavy downpours and churning through the already overburdened sewer system. What’s more, the
new water features will be a life-giving element for a “multi-generation neighborhood
garden,” which young and old can design and
use together.
TALKING IS A KEY
All this requires good architects and construction companies with the latest knowhow and equipment, but the team from the
Customer Center also is devoting lots of
time to the project. When major changes are
in the works, good communication with the
tenants is a key to success. Older tenants, in
particular, are reluctant to leave their familiar four walls. The tenants are invited to take
part in many discussions, and solutions are
developed, making it possible to find suitable new apartments for them just a few meters away.
And Evonik has already used this concept
very successfully in many other cities: nearly
all tenants who had to leave their old apartments have continued to rent from the company, and in the same complexes.
The next challenge for the Customer Center
is then to find appropriate new tenants. There
was a case, for example, where another property management company was contracted
to have senior-friendly apartments built but
then filled some of them to overflowing with
big families, including lots of kids. Living
so close to one another, the families and the
seniors needing their peace and quiet were
constantly in conflict. The Johanniskirchstrasse development is designed to ensure
that young and old can live together in harmony. Instead of annoying one another, they
will enjoy the benefits of living in a community that comprises three generations, without all having to belong to a single family. The
Customer Center will ensure that the tenants
are “mixed” in proportion to match the neighborhood development concept. And the men
and women at the Customer Center are happy
to report that they can pick and choose: “We
receive between 100 and 200 applications
every week; of that total, we will close maybe
ten leases.” The applicants include a large
number of tenants of competing companies,
the Customer Center managers are proud to
say — tenants who are disgruntled with their
problematic neighbors and the competitors’
profit-driven business models. That motivates the team to continually develop superior concepts. The municipalities are delighted with the housing improvements,
of course. In Essen’s Vogelheim district, for
example, Evonik’s Real Estate Business Area
is cooperating with two regional and local
property management companies that
use a similar concept: Allbau AG and THS
(TreuHandStelle für Bergmannswohnstätten
GmbH).
Under the motto “A partnership for Vogelheim,” the three companies are modernizing their 1,700 apartments in the district —
about 60 percent of all rental housing in
Vogelheim. Renovations, some demolition,
new construction, senior-friendly apartments, rentals, and condominiums — Vogelheim is also getting a diverse array of housing to ensure a balanced social structure and
reverse the tide of residents moving away
from the district where mostly mine workers
used to live. The city’s part of the bargain is
to maintain and expand the good infrastructure. That’s important, says Mastalski, “because you can hardly attract young families
to a neighborhood and expect them to stay if
the kindergarten down the street closes a
year after they move in.”
Evonik sees its business philosophy as a
way to position itself as a premium brand
among property management companies.
And that, Buhren says, seems a surefire way
to attract investors on the capital market:
“We offer a sustainable model and success for
the long-term.” <
46
SHAPING
REAL ESTATE
“A Win-Win Situation
for All Parties Involved”
Evonik Industries AG Management Board member Dr. Peter Schörner wants the Real
Estate Business Area to make a key contribution to the new Group’s sustainable growth
EVONIK MAGAZINE Dr. Schörner, what do
you find the most interesting aspect of your new
position as head of Evonik Industries AG’s Real
Estate Business Area?
DR. PETER SCHÖRNER Since being called to
serve on the RAG Management Board in 2000,
my responsibilities have included preparing the
Group step by step for the capital markets. Our
Real Estate Business Area is a successful company
with roots in the region, a strong sense of social
responsibility, and a passion for residential construction. Determining how it can meet the requirements of the capital markets, that seemed to
me a tremendously interesting question. This is
a central challenge, especially in light of the current business practices of private equity companies in the rental properties market, on the one
hand, and the planned initial public offering of
our entire Group in 2008, on the other.
EVONIK MAGAZINE What is your concept for
the strategic positioning of Evonik’s Real Estate
Business Area?
SCHÖRNER First of all we focused on our strongest field, residential real estate, and we sold
our activities outside of our core area, including
building management and project development
businesses. Our second step was to dissolve the
eight, long-standing independent property management companies — each of which had its own
administration — by bringing them under one
roof in Evonik’s Real Estate Business Area. Overarching and service functions were taken over by
the new service company. This enables us to optimize our structures, and subsequently the organizational costs, in a manner needed for the
capital markets.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Should tenants be concerned that the restructuring will be carried out
at the expense of local customer care?
SCHÖRNER That’s not going to happen. The
regional presence and close proximity to the
tenants is assured by two branch offices, and
ten Customer Centers and service offices, and
we’ve even added personnel at some locations.
The customers will enjoy the concrete benefits
of management’s enhanced capabilities. And
we also will not slacken our commitment in the
future to constantly improve our services at the
locations.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Lean structures — some
employees may not have liked the sound of
that.
SCHÖRNER This kind of restructuring is a bold
step; it’s not without risks. Our shared challenge is to grow together and build one real estate company out of eight strong companies —
and to ensure that the new company thrives on
the market by providing first-rate services and
a business model designed for long-term success. I recently visited our company’s locations
and spoke with our teams. My impression was
that they all certainly exude a very positive outlook and future-oriented drive. Their initial fears
have been allayed, in part because we are trans-
parently implementing all needed changes and
optimization measures and supplementing them
at the organizational level with change management. We can offset the impact of the necessary
reduction in the number of employees through
part-time jobs for older employees, which lets
us structure the change reasonably, without adverse social effects.
EVONIK MAGAZINE So people aren’t being
made jobless only for the sake of the initial public offering?
SCHÖRNER No. Based on our corporate history and business philosophy, I see an opportunity for us to stand out from some of our competitors, which are operated by private equity
investors and have largely discontinued modernization measures and integrated projects, for example. It’s also important to bear in mind that
there aren’t many urban development companies
listed on the capital markets, because it supposedly isn’t profitable. But we have concentrated
holdings with which we can prove that housing
development does pay off, while boosting fair
value. We have a portfolio of desirable properties and the latest technologies. And we have excellent relations with the local municipalities, as
well as experience with designing efficient packages comprising renovations to boost energy efficiency, increasing the density of developments,
and measures for owner-occupation. That’s why
we are in a position to stand out from competitors
with business models more oriented to the short
47
PETER SCHÖRNER,
48, studied economics in
Bochum. He completed his
doctorate degree in 1990 and
then began his career as assistant
to the Management Board at the
then Ruhrkohle AG, where he
subsequently performed various
management tasks. At the age
of 41, Schörner was chosen to
serve on the RAG Board of Management. In addition to being the
Evonik Board of Management
member responsible for the Real
Estate Business Area, he is Chief
Operations Officer (COO).
Schörner lives with his wife and
two children in Bochum.
our property development business. In the final
analysis, thanks to the growth of our portfolio
of properties, for the most part former miners’
housing, we have a stable and by and large trouble-free body of tenants, as well as low fluctuation and vacancy rates. We also will continue to
work with the municipalities on urban development and housing improvements, but we will be
very careful to make sure that the measures are
economically sound, that a win-win situation is
guaranteed for all parties involved. For example
by boosting the density of housing complexes
by adding new buildings, which increases rental
space and income. We will be relying more on
such package solutions.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Some observers have
claimed that the Evonik Real Estate Business
Area is too small…
SCHÖRNER …growth is indeed an important
aspect when it comes to inspiring the hopes and
gaining the trust of investors. But that’s not done
only with quantitative growth — just boasting
impressive numbers — without taking into account the quality of dubious properties. When
it comes to solid, municipally owned housing being offered for sale, though, Evonik’s Real Estate
Business Area has good opportunities as an investor, because in addition to offering the going
market price, we can see to it that the apartments
will be placed in good hands, and professionally managed and conscientiously maintained
in the future.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You are said to be very
interested in the housing properties owned by
TreuHandStelle für Bergmannswohnstätten
(THS). When will you buy them?
SCHÖRNER The open questions regarding the
THS ownership structure have meanwhile been
resolved. We have agreed with the labor union
IG BCE and the federal government that THS
will be jointly owned in the future by Evonik’s
Real Estate Business Area and the union, which
will own equal shares. This means THS will be
a conventional company owned by two stakeholders. That is a good solution for a transitional
period. We then are big enough to be wellpositioned to take on our competitors, and with
this configuration we can work with the labor
union to achieve further progress with the
processes needed at THS, to leverage existing
synergy potential.
EVONIK MAGAZINE What do you foresee
for Evonik’s Real Estate Business Area in ten
years?
SCHÖRNER I want us to be a successful, capital markets-based, real estate company with a
long-term business model — and considerably
bigger than we are now. By then we will have
acquired properties and service companies in
other regions, especially from municipal housing
companies, and be among the most successful
German real estate companies. But first we have
a duty to further optimize our performance. Realizing future growth — that’s the fun part. <
term. I have announced our strategic objective:
we must convince investors on the capital markets that our sustainable business model is at least
as attractive, in terms of profitability, as the shortterm private equity models. And I believe that our
employees also enjoy taking on this challenge.
The decisive factor will be to make sure that longterm business practices survive in the residential
property market. Given the business philosophy
of some of our competitors, the feeling among
our employees, and also at companies that operate public housing, is: we’ll do what it takes not
to fall into their hands. And many of those companies’ tenants would like to come to us.
EVONIK MAGAZINE To what degree is the
real estate business a factor in the success of
Evonik’s initial public offering plans?
SCHÖRNER We are playing an important role in
the equity story and in Evonik’s business success,
because we contribute significantly to ensuring
a stable dividend yield. We already have an excellent operational platform to build on. This includes our employees, who — unlike their counterparts at some competitors — are seasoned
veterans in the housing business who already
have an extremely successful track record. They
are our greatest asset. And by the end of the year
we will have installed an outstanding IT platform
that can outperform many systems in the sector.
It will allow us to further improve our internal
processes. We also will be further optimizing
our maintenance and purchasing activities, and
48
SHAPING
BRAND
How do you glue an elephant to a wall? It’s not an easy task. But for the film crew working with Tembie, it was no problem to translate this advertising concept
49
Who Would
Do That?
A strong performance: Thanks to its unconventional advertising campaign
and outstanding branding, Evonik Industries AG is making its debut as a creative
industrial group from Germany that operates all over the world
TEXT CHRISTOPH PECK
into a brilliant TV spot. Who would do that? Evonik — naturally
WHEN THE DIRECTOR calls “Action!”
on the set, Tembie is all ears. Tembie is an
elephant, and a real star. He does everything
directors ask him to do, patiently follows instructions, and isn’t fazed by the presence
of the camera. There’s only one condition:
he won’t cooperate unless his favorite female elephant, Wenkie, is nearby. Tembie
is available only as half of a duo.
On this fine day in March, Tembie has to
be glued to the outer wall of an office building in Cape Town. While traffic roars by on
the freeway running diagonally above the
set, Tembie calmly lets his handler place him
in front of a blue screen — whose color the
camera doesn’t pick up — while Wenkie
looks on curiously from her position five
meters away. The director calls “Action!” >
50
SHAPING
BRAND
It’s amazing what Evonik can do
Impressive performance presented with wit and charm: Mama’s astonished by the absorbency of her baby’s diaper, which has just sucked
up all the water in the paddling pool. Who would do that? Evonik’s Chemicals Business Area with its high-performance superabsorbers
> The takes are quickly completed and Tem-
bie’s job is finished. The two Swedish directors, Sven and Calle, are satisfied and ready
to shoot the next scene, which stars a pair of
cute twin girls.
The girls only have to tilt their heads toward their shoulders and then straighten
them up again when the director calls out,
“Action! And one. And two. And up!” After
several tries, they’re perfectly synchronized. Finally, it’s the office building’s turn.
The camera, initially tilted 90 degrees to the
left, films the edge of the building, which
now looks horizontal in the photographic
image. When the camera is straightened up,
the building tilts into its proper vertical
position.
The rest of the work consists of editing
and post-production: the various takes are
now copied, cut, and spliced together. In the
finished film, two sweet little girls are looking into the camera, with their heads tilted
and their eyes wide with amazement. Next
we see an elephant against a gray background. The girls tilt their heads back upright, and we see that the elephant is glued
to the side of the office building. Who would
do that?
“I’ve got no idea what company’s being advertised here,” says one of the technicians
on the set. “It’s all pretty mysterious. But I
like what they’re doing.”
Quite a few people are wondering which
company is involved. The film clip makes
people curious about the new company and
the new brand that Tembie and the twins,
among many others, are helping to
advertise.
STRESS ON THE SET
The main concern on the set is to stay within
the tight production schedule, which calls
for two films to be created on every day of
shooting. Of course, not everything works
as well as the scene starring Tembie. For example, the three little boys who have to slide
down a slide into a plastic paddling pool
filled with water don’t like the game at all.
One after the other, they start to cry on camera. Finally, a girl comes along and shows
them how it’s done. In fact, that part of the
shooting was the simple one. It was much
more complicated to build a mechanism that
would suck 200 liters of water out of the
pool in four seconds. But that too finally
worked. In the TV spot, a shocked mother
watches as her baby’s diaper absorbs all of
the water in the pool. Who would do that?
Evonik Industries AG would. This creative
industrial group, with its three Business Areas Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate, develops special additives for high-strength adhesives and extremely absorbent polymer
granulates. Its know-how is in demand for
extremely economical tires that save fuel
thanks to their low rolling resistance, yet
hold the road securely. It builds power stations all over the world and turns scrap wood
into electricity. It knows how to protect skin
against ultraviolet rays and slow down the
aging process. It builds houses whose inhabitants feel so comfortable inside that they
prefer to mow their lawns from out of the
second-floor window. And it develops ultrarigid yet lightweight hard foam that can
make aircraft lighter — which saves kerosene
and enables a cleaning lady in the hangar to
lift up the front of the plane so that she can
mop the floor under it. And that brings us
once again to the question of how to communicate such high corporate capabilities in
creative advertising.
The rollout of a new brand has to be properly staged, especially if the brand is being de- >
51
Who would do that?
Who would do
that? Conventional
TVs are rapidly
being replaced by
flat screens — like
those produced
by the experts at
Evonik
KNSK — the Ad Agency with the Bright Ideas
PHOTOGRAPHY: KNSK/JULIA GAENTZSCH (UR), BRANDNFILM (L)
More than 100 clever people work at the KNSK advertising agency
in Hamburg, which is a member of the BBDO Worldwide Network
and consistently rakes in awards for its creations. In recent years,
KNSK has won gold, silver, and bronze awards in many competitions, such as those sponsored by the Art Directors Club and the
New Yorker Festival. The agency is known for its creativity and
close cooperation with its clients. Each of the agency’s directors
even has his own team to deal with his or her individual clients. “I
Verena Warstat
Olaf Hörning
don’t know his clients, and he doesn’t know mine,” says Werner
Knopf about his partner Detmar Karpinski. “And each of us leads his
own team the way he sees fit.” This concept has helped the agency
to attract major clients. One of them is Evonik, for which Knopf’s
team, including Account Director Verena Warstat, Creative Director
Text Olaf Hörning, and Creative Director Art Vera Hampe, implemented an attention-grabbing campaign for TV and the print
media.
Werner Knopf
Vera Hampe
52
SHAPING
BRAND
Presenting innovations creatively
Rollout of the “saver tire.” Thanks
to the Chemicals Business Area,
tires can help drivers save on fuel
The energy experts from Evonik build power
stations all over the world — wherever customers
want them. In this ad, one is being built in sand
> veloped for an existing company. In just three
years, a new industrial group has taken shape
inside RAG, whereby the Business Areas formerly known as the “white” operations — the
energy, chemicals, and real estate activities —
have become a separate company. These preparations made by the company management
now have to be translated into concepts and
images. At this point, it’s time to bring in the
communications experts. Their job is to find
a new name and develop a brand concept, as
well as an advertising campaign that explains
it all to the general public, and especially to the
company’s target groups.
Who are the men and women who have
supported RAG in recent months and years
and have in effect become the midwives of the
new brand? We decided to find out what motivates them and just what makes them tick.
Our tour began on the shores of the Außenalster, an artificial lake within the city limits of
Hamburg.
THE ADVERTISER
Here we meet Werner Knopf, the managing
partner of the KNSK advertising agency. He’s
also the first K in the agency’s name. Knopf,
who was born in 1955, studied visual commu-
Safety first: The pyrogenic silica in fire
protection glass keeps the hottest flames in
isolation so they can’t cause any damage
nication, worked as a copywriter, founded
KNS in 1987 and landed prestigious projects
as word of his unbridled creativity got around.
Today, a few years older but still as creative as
ever, he and his partner Detmar Karpinski
(the other K) work for clients such as AXA,
FTD, and ZEUS, the purchasing and services
association for Hagebaumarkt DIY centers
(see box). KNSK is known for its creativity and
close cooperation with customers.
Both qualities were required for the
Evonik project, which was required to “focus on making the new name well-known
and connecting it with the company’s performance.” The campaign was also supposed to be “attention-grabbing,” “original,”
and “aligned with the company’s market position.” The campaign took off like a twostage rocket. In stage one, the teaser campaign was launched on TV and in the print
media ten days before the rollout of the new
brand. The ads were meant to arouse people’s curiosity about the new company —
“and to make them really smile,” says Knopf.
Each of the themes is presented in a short
episode lasting seven seconds. “This was an
unusually short length,” says Knopf, “so it
was all the more important to find some-
thing that would make people sit up and take
notice.” That’s why the KNSK team carried
their message to extremes. The agency’s
creative directors Vera Hampe and Olaf
Hörning were at times unsure whether their
client would continue to cooperate, according to Hampe.
But their fears were unfounded, and
KNSK went on to produce six TV spots in
two versions: as seven-second teasers and
15-second informative spots for stage two
of the campaign. In parallel, the Hamburg
photographer Anatol Kotte created 12 motifs for the print media based on the same
principle of illustrating the company’s creative achievements through affectionate
tongue-in-cheek exaggeration. The advertising specialists did not invent any of the images in the ads; all of the motifs are based on
specific products or applications from one
of the three Business Areas of Evonik.
The next phase of our journey takes us
from the Alster to the Rhine.
THE BRANDMAKERS
The calm, thoughtful Ben Rünger and his
lively colleague Christoph Wallrafen are truly
the odd couple. Rünger, who has a degree in >
53
Company color: Eighty percent of all companies go for blue. But
many other colors and color combinations are also already spoken
for. Deep Purple is unique, and there are two reasons why it’s an
excellent choice for Evonik: No other enterprise uses it, and it fits
with the positioning of Evonik as a creative industrial group
XEO — Masters of Brand Management
Christoph Wallrafen
Ben Rünger
Heinz Frentrop
“Comprehensive services for your brand” is the
motto of the XEO advertising agency in Düsseldorf,
which developed the trademark and brand image
of Evonik. The experts at XEO devise overall communication strategies and, if their clients so desire,
organize their professional implementation. In
its work, XEO focuses on two things: the brand’s
character and the creative idea behind its communication. The creative teams at XEO generate energy
for the brands of their clients, including prominent
companies such as Henkel, Lindt, Merck, and BASF.
Ideas from XEO have also impressed many juries.
For example, XEO was recently named “Agency of
the Year” for the third time in a row in the international communication competition “Spotlight Awards“
in San Diego — mainly because of its brochure
“A Day in the Lifetime,” which was honored as the
most creative product entered in the competition.
The agency’s owner, Ben Rünger, and its managing
directors Christoph Wallrafen (Consulting)
and Heinz Frentrop (Creation) are responsible for
a steady flow of new clients and successful
advertising campaigns.
54
SHAPING
BRAND
> design, is the owner of the XEO communica-
tion agency, and Wallrafen, who has an MBA,
is the agency’s managing director responsible
for consulting. Their motto is “Comprehensive services for your brand.” They are specialists in brand consulting, development, and
communication, and they’ve developed a
brand identity and design for Evonik.
How did they do it? “First of all, we did a
lot of listening,” says Wallrafen. They conducted approximately 20 interviews with
managers and management board members
to find answers to questions such as these:
What can this industrial group do especially
well? What sets it apart from the rest? What
do its customers buy from it? What are the
outstanding achievements that are the basis of
its success? How do these combine into Evonik’s characteristic achievements, patterns of
success, and areas of expertise?
In the process, they listened to stories
about high-performance adhesives, lightweight hard foams, biomass-burning power
stations, high satisfaction rates among tenants, superabsorbers in babies’ diapers, and
environmentally friendly power stations.
On the basis of such proofs of high-quality
performance, they identified the Group’s
key areas of expertise “in order to position
the company and home in on the brand’s capabilities,” explains Wallrafen.
In the next step, they worked on the
“strong differentiation” of the brand, which
involved deciding on the new name, logo,
design system, font, and claim regarding
performance. And in the third step they enhanced the brand’s staying power by developing a brand strategy and brand control
processes. “We have thus defined what kind
of capabilities the brand has to develop
within the Group, against its competitors,
and in the target group,” says Wallrafen.
When our discussion turns to competitiveness and differentiation, Rünger takes
over. A brand is more than just the name of
a company, he explains; it also includes a
characteristic color, a design element, a
trademark, and a font. All of these factors
taken together should make it easy for people to grasp the company’s basic nature.
“The characteristics we associate with
Evonik are ‘clear,’ ‘strong,’ and ‘expert,’ as
well as ‘individual,’ ‘creative,’ and ‘daring’,”
says Rünger.
Accordingly, for Evonik they chose the
daring color purple — which is used by no
other German company on the DAX stock
index. “Just look at the color ranges of the
other companies: lots of red, lots more blue.
That won’t do for Evonik. As soon as you see
this color, you know which company it stands
for.” He hopes the company’s design element, the clip, will have the same effect. The
clip will be used in advertisements, brochures, and Evonik magazines to earmark
important messages. The logo, the clip, and
the color purple have characterized the company’s appearance on the intranet and its
website ever since the launch of the new
brand. The corporate magazines, brochures,
business cards, and stationery have also been
aligned with the new corporate identity.
Trade fair stands, product packaging, advertising materials, and the fleet will follow suit
in the months to come. Everything will have
to be uniform and unmistakable. After all, a
brand has to be different from all the rest.
THE NAME CREATOR
And that brings us to the key element of the
company’s new identity: its name. To find
out more, we went to Baden.
Manfred Gotta has a special relationship
with cars. When he’s been asked to invent a
55
The principles of the design
system are anchored in the
trade mark of the new Group.
The drawing illustrates the
shared curvature of the badge,
typeface, and clip. It’s a selfsufficient feature that ensures
high recognition values
Manfred Gotta — the Man
Who Names Companies
PHOTOGRAPHY: WOLFGANG BRAUER
new name for a car, he locks himself into a
room with the car, strokes it, lies down in or
on or under it, touches it and smells it. “The
question in my mind the whole time is: what
impression should this car convey? What’s
the best way to characterize it? A car is like
a person. It has a soul, a face, and a rear end,”
says Gotta.
Today, Gotta is a major player in the
name game — or, better yet, its star. When
he was in his late 30s he realized that he
could make a business of naming new products. After all, a clear, individual, and unmistakable name is crucial to the success of a
product, service, or company. That’s why he
founded his institute for brand name development, which is known today as “Gotta®
Brands – Institut für creative Entwicklung
von Markennamen für neue Produkte, Dienstleistungen und Unternehmen.”
Gotta can look back on a long list of
names he invented that have become household words, such as the Renault Twingo, the
Opel Vectra, the Porsche Cayenne, Kelts
beer, the smart, and the XETRA electronic
stock trading system. Names should be compelling and distinctive, and they should
function in every language.
>
“It’s better to be a something with sharp
corners than a smooth, round nothing.” This
quote from the German author Christian
Friedrich Hebbel occupies a prominent place
on Manfred Gotta’s website. Gotta, who has
made a name for himself through his naming
skills, realized about 20 years ago that every
product and every company is unique, and
that an unmistakable and patentable name is
crucial to its success. The task of finding
such names has become the mission of his
Gotta® Brands — an institute for the creative
development of brand names for new
products, services, and companies in Forbach
(Baden), Germany. Sometimes there’s
a certain logic behind the names Gotta comes up with, such as “smart” (s for swatch,
m for Mercedes-Benz, and art for the art of making automobiles) — but not always.
However, there’s always a strong emotional element, because Gotta wants his names
to be not just appropriate but unforgettable — in the minds of customers all over the
world. His success is demonstrated by an impressive list of product names, from Actron
to Zenio, that have made him a pioneer in the sector.
56
SHAPING
BRAND
PHOTOGRAPHY: TIM WEGNER (L.), FRANK PREUSS
The brand on its way to the customer
Kick-off: The BVB players and their fans wear the new name
and logo of their sponsor with pride
> All this requires lots of homework. After
Gotta has become thoroughly familiar with
a product or a company, he writes down his
conclusions and gets together with his team
to begin developing the new name. Most of
the ideas land in the wastebasket, but eventually a list of possible names remains. These
are then tested in focus groups. The short
list of favorites — which in many cases may
still have 20 names on it — is carefully scrutinized to find any potential pitfalls.
So far, Gotta has not made any of the mistakes that have plagued his competitors.
Sometimes a bad choice, such as the name
Phaeton, is due to ignorance (it means “the
shining one,” but it’s also the name of the sun
god Helios’ son, who insisted on driving his
father’s chariot and promptly crashed it).
Sometimes it’s due to linguistic quirks, as in
the case of the Fiat Uno, which didn’t sell
well in Finland because in Finnish “uno”
means “fool.” But poor choices can be prevented through careful research.
How did Gotta come up with the name
Evonik? He’s not at liberty to talk about the
creative process itself, but “the name has to
be clear, strong and must not prejudice anything,” he says. The individual letters of the
name have no special significance — it must
be an empty shell, to be filled with what the
Group does, worldwide. When a name can
incorporate all of that, then it works.
LORD OF THE BRAND
We finally return to Evonik headquarters in
Essen, where we meet Markus Langer, the
head of Corporate Marketing. For Evonik,
Langer is in effect the keeper of the corporate brand. When we ask him to define a
brand, he replies immediately: “The brand
is the anchor to which the company links its
products and services.”
Which brings us to the brand identity — a
company’s self-image — and the brand image,
or the way the company is seen by others.
One of Langer’s responsibilities is to make
sure the two coincide. “In order to have longterm success and create value, we need
trust:
• the trust of the investors who will invest
their money in our company in the
future;
• the trust of our present and future employees, who link up a large part of their lives
with us, and therefore obviously want to
know what we stand for;
• the trust of our customers, whom we want
to impress through the top quality of our
products; and finally,
• the trust of the general public, who expect
us to engage in sustainable business
operations.
This trust needs an anchor — the corporate
brand.” And that’s the reason, Langer concludes, why “companies also have to be
brands”.
Companies that are brands possess a
valuable property that is important even
though it is immaterial. That’s because a
company’s value consists not only of its revenues, production plants, employee potential, and patents, but also of the immaterial
value of its brand (or brands). Strong brands
result in bigger sales volumes and can also
demand higher prices. What’s more, they
are also more attractive for investors and
employees.
According to the experts, they are “top
of mind” brands — that is, they occupy such
a prominent place in our memory that they
occur to us immediately when we’re making purchasing decisions. And ultimately,
the aim of all these efforts is to make Evonik
exactly that kind of brand. <
Taking off: A hot-air balloon bears the
name Evonik through the skies of Germany
57
This is the kind of advertising
motif that “sticks.” The
“What?” effect helps to sell
the Evonik product range
58
SHAPING
RAG-STIFTUNG
The RAG-Stiftung
Ushers In a New Era
The RAG-Stiftung will launch Evonik Industries AG on the capital market
and help ensure that the adjustment process in the German hard
coal industry is managed in a socially responsible manner until 2018
TEXT CHRISTOPH PECK
ON JULY 10, a long period of struggle
over a controversial and hotly contested
plan culminated in a simple bureaucratic
procedure as the district administration in
Düsseldorf approved the RAG BeteiligungsAG’s application to establish a new foundation, the RAG-Stiftung. This amounted to
the formal establishment of the new foundation. It was a prosaic procedure, but it
marked a break in the Group’s history.
The story of how the RAG-Stiftung came
to be must include an analysis of Germany’s
energy policy as well as a report on the process of forming a new industrial group and
making it fit for the capital market. Many
people participated in the process, up front
as well as behind the scenes. First of all, the
Group’s employees had to be convinced,
then the national and state politicians, and
then of course the labor unions — while
keeping a wary eye on the capital market.
Two years ago, when RAG Chairman
Dr. Werner Müller made public his vision
of the Group’s future, it was by no means a
foregone conclusion that the foundation
would eventually be established and form
a milestone in the RAG Group’s history.
Many genuine experts and some self-styled
ones were extremely skeptical about Müller’s plan to restructure the Group under
the aegis of a foundation, separate its
“white” operations (Chemicals, Energy,
and Real Estate) from the “black” ones
(coal), and launch it on the capital market.
But the elegance of the idea became increasingly convincing. People gradually realized that this was the only way the Group
could throw off its historical burdens without simultaneously harming the mining industry and placing new burdens on the
public sector. They also saw that, conversely, politicians could make decisions
concerning energy policy without having
to fear the possibility of condemning thriving companies to bankruptcy.
The foundation model transforms the
joint liability status of the “white” and the
“black” operations into a redefined scope of
liability. This may sound like a minor semantic alteration, but in fact it cuts the Gordian
knot and has far-reaching consequences.
The Gordian knot was the corporate
structure of RAG, which was unique in
Germany and had been a serious handicap
to the further development of the Group. In
this structure, two completely different industrial groups had been combined to form
one entity: the internationally competitive
industrial group consisting of the Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate Business Areas, and the mining group, which mines
hard coal by government contract. Within
this structure, the industrial group had to
be liable, with all its assets, for the mining
group. It was not allowed to pay out any
dividends to its shareholders E.ON, RWE,
ThyssenKrupp, and Arcelor.
Consequently, these shareholders did
not invest any of their own assets in the
RAG Group. This severely limited the RAG
Group’s access to fresh capital. “As a result,” Dr. Müller would tirelessly remind
listeners inside and outside the Group, “our
‘white’ operations have no hope of
surviving.”
FOUR KEY TASKS FOR THE NEW
FOUNDATION
The first idea that was considered was to invite the various RAG shareholders to sell
their shares for the symbolic price of one
euro. That would relieve them of their part
of their responsibility for the RAG mining
operations’ inherited liabilities with limited
duration.
But — this was the second issue — to whom
should the shares be sold? To a normal company? That would only have continued the
problem under a new name. A public trust?
That would have meant in effect nationalizing the coal mining operations and the industrial group. This left only the option of a
private foundation that would receive the
entire assets of the former RAG Group.
>
59
Wilhelm Bonse-Geuking studied mining at the RWTH Aachen. While still a student
he gained his first work experience at the Anna mine near Aachen, and he has felt
a bond with mining and with the Ruhr region ever since. Today, as the Chairman of
the RAG-Stiftung, his responsibilities include organizing an exit from the mining
business by 2018, in a socially responsible manner. That is the objective as specified by the coal industry compromise, and by the RAG-Stiftung’s charter.
Back when there were lots of speculations about who would serve as Chairman
of the foundation, no one thought that the choice would be Bonse-Geuking, who
formerly served as the CEO of Veba Oel AG, the Chairman of the Board of Deutsche
BP AG, the head of BP Europe, and is currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board
of Deutsche BP. And nor did he think he would be chosen. The phone call from the
office of the German Chancellor came as a surprise. Bonse-Geuking didn’t need
much time to think it over: “You don’t say no to such a request,” he says.
Now — the man who is said to have excellent contacts in the Ruhr region and
beyond, who has a good relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who previously worked at Veba with Evonik Chairman Werner Müller and Chairman of the
Board of Trustees Ulrich Hartmann — now, at age 65, Bonse-Geuking is starting
a third career. He will head the foundation for a five-year term.
Joining him on the board are Gustav Adolf Schröder, the former Chairman
of the Sparkasse Köln savings bank, who will be responsible for Finance, and
Ulrich Weber from the Evonik board, who will serve as head of Human Resources.
“Objective and conscientious,” is how Bonse-Geuking describes the team.
The energy manager is delighted that it was possible for the foundation model
to be “taken from the blueprint to reality.” Now, Bonse-Geuking’s task is to separate the ‘black’ operations, with the mining activities, from the ‘white’ activities —
Evonik’s Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate Business Areas — “before the end of
the year, and to lead them to future success under one roof at the RAG-Stiftung.”
PHOTOGRAPHY: KARSTEN BOOTMANN
A Man of Action
SHAPING
RAG-STIFTUNG
60
“You don’t
say no to such
a request”
> The third issue was: What should be the
foundation’s function? The key tasks were
defined as follows:
• It should manage the adjustment process
of the German hard coal mining industry
until 2018 in a socially responsible
manner.
• It should safeguard the further development of the Group with its Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate Business Areas.
• After the dissolution of the joint liability
status, it should float the industrial group
on the capital market.
• It should use the proceeds from the capitalization of the industrial group to permanently finance the hard coal mining operations’ liabilities with unlimited duration.
In the crucial fourth stage of the deliberations, it was decided that the foundation
would separate the two parts of RAG, launch
the renamed industrial group, or “white”
operations, on the capital market, and receive the proceeds. The aim is to earn around
€5 billion in several tranches for Evonik on
the capital market. The invested revenues
should cover the costs of the mining operations’ inherited liabilities until 2018.
According to Müller, this creates “a winwin situation that benefits everyone involved”. Most importantly, the “white” operations will be released from the status of
joint liability and will finally be able to operate like a “conventional company,” says
Müller.
However, quite a few discussions were
still needed before all the partners in the negotiations were convinced. The scenario
was absolutely clear, but it was also bound
up with the discussion of future energy policy, which was repeatedly heated up by all
the parties involved. Should residual mining
operations be preserved, or should Germany get out of the mining industry as soon
as possible? What would it cost to phase out
mining in 2012? Or in 2018? How high are
the inherited liabilities with limited duration
(pensions and compensation for damage
due to mining)? How about the inherited liabilities with unlimited duration (especially
above ground and underground water projects, which require maintenance)?
While these issues were being publicly
discussed, Müller was pressing ahead with
the transformation process within the
Group. The organizational structure of the
future industrial group was designed in record time. Meanwhile, ministry officials
from the national government and the coalmining states, labor union officials, and
RAG employees were working out the details. Everything that was controversial was
written within parentheses in the documents and had to be resolved by the top peo-
ple. The latter removed the final stumbling
blocks, some of which were enormous.
That made it possible to establish the
RAG-Stiftung, which consists of a Management Board and a Board of Trustees. The
three-man Management Board, headed by
Energy Manager Wilhelm Bonse-Geuking,
is supervised by the Board of Trustees,
which is headed by former E.ON CEO Ulrich Hartmann and includes as ex officio
members the Federal Minister of Finance,
the Minister-Presidents of the states of
North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, and
the chairman of the IG BCE labor union (see
box).
The first official act of the new foundation was to sign the purchase contract for
the takeover of the RAG shares formerly
owned by E.ON, ThyssenKrupp, and RWE
for the symbolic price of €1 each. Arcelor
Mittal will also sell its shares in RAG under
the same conditions. In order to sell their
shares, the Ruhr-based companies had to
once more request specific certification
from auditors to the effect that their shares
in the RAG Group had “no positive value.”
Müller, guiding spirit of the whole process, was extremely satisfied with the outcome. “When the RAG-Stiftung becomes
the new owner of RAG AG, probably in December, a new era will begin for RAG as a
whole,” he says. <
61
How the Industrial Group Evonik Was Created
2004
• The new Chemicals Business Area
•
•
•
•
is established with the acquisition of
50.1 percent share in Degussa
STEAG AG’s acquisition of the Saarberg
energy businesses makes it possible
to create the new Energy Business Area
Divestment of Rütgers’ plastics activities
The various foreign mining operations
are divested
Within only 18 months, 280 companies
with total revenues of €4.5 billion
come under new ownership, without the
need for compulsory redundancies
RAG Chairman Werner Müller explains
to the press how the company is
on its way to becoming the new Evonik
2005
• Complete takeover of Degussa begins
• Start of the Group-wide Sirius Project
(optimization of controlling and service
functions)
• Finalization of the core process for selling
off non-strategic activities
• Divestment of STEAG Electronic Systems
• Divestment of logistics activities
2006
• Acquisition of 100 percent of Degussa
shares is concluded
• Squeeze-out in the record time of three
and one-half months
• Measures aimed at optimizing the
portfolio continue
• Sale of Degussa Construction Chemicals
to BASF
• Sale of DBT GmbH to the U.S. company
Bucyrus
• Sale of Saar Ferngas AG begins
• Real Estate Business Area takes the
decision to concentrate on residential
real estate
• The capital markets’ confidence is
gained on the basis of the “foundation/
initial public offering” concept:
an international banking consortium
agrees to provide syndicated credit
of more than €5.25 billion for a term
of five years
• Planning for the optimization of the
controlling and service functions
completed in record-breaking time
(Project Sirius)
• RAG Beteiligungs-GmbH is turned
into an AG; seven-member Management
Board led by Chairman Dr. Werner
Müller is selected
• Improved business results in fiscal year
2006: EBIT increases by 11 percent
to €1.2 billion, while revenues grow by
four percent to €14.8 billion. The
return on capital employed (ROCE) rises
to 8.8 percent, exceeding the cost of
capital and the value of 7.8 percent posted
in the previous year
• Despite the full acquisition of Degussa,
the Group was able to lower its debt by
€200 million, to €5.4 billion.
2007
• Key points of an agreement on coal
industry policy are signed by representatives of the federal government, the states
of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland,
the IG BCE, and RAG, on February 7 in
Berlin. This agreement established the
basis for the initial public offering of RAG
Beteiligungs-AG
• Politicians in the federal and state governments decide that RAG Beteiligungs-AG
should be floated on the stock market
PHOTOGRAPHY: DPA/PICTURE-ALLIANCE
2003
• A new strategy is established for RAG:
focusing on the areas of chemicals,
energy, and real estate.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück,
IG BCE Chairman Hubertus Schmoldt,
RAG Chairman Werner Müller, and Federal
Minister of Economics Michael Glos following
the summit meeting in Berlin to address the
future of the hard coal industry
• A good first quarter performance
•
•
•
•
underscores the strong, stock marketcalibre of RAG Beteiligungs-AG:
revenues rise by one percent to €3.746
billion, earnings before interest and
taxes (EBIT) are up by 21 percent,
corporate profit reaches €246 million,
more than doubling
RAG-Stiftung is founded
Cabinet of the federal government passes
the hard coal finance law
The companies E.ON, RWE, and
ThyssenKrupp transfer their holdings
in RAG to the RAG-Stiftung
The new name Evonik is launched
62
SHAPING
LIVING
A Good Name Opens Every Door
Marketing professor Dr. Klaus Brandmeyer
talks about the creation of a brand and its
long-term effects on customers and employees
PHOTOGRAPHY: KEYSTONE/LAURENT GILLIERON
A NEW NAME alone is not enough to create a brand. That’s because a brand is
Professor Klaus Brandmeyer was for
many years the Director of the Institute
for Brand Technology in Geneva. He
has also taught brand technology and brand
advertising at the Vienna University of
Economics and Business Administration.
He was one of the publishers of Jahrbuch
Markentechnik (Market Technology
Annual) and the founder of the consulting
company Brandmeyer Markenberatung
in Hamburg
something like the good name of a company rather than just a trademark or a trademark color. And companies obviously can’t make a good name for themselves overnight. Instead, they have to prove to their customers and the general public, year after
year, that they are reliable suppliers and partners meeting customers’ expectations
with regard to quality without the tiniest fluctuation. That goes for products, customer care, and employees’ relations with outside companies, down to details such as
the voice you hear on the telephone and the phrasing of business letters and invoices.
A brand is created only after hundreds of thousands of customers have repeatedly
had the same good experiences with a company and have always recorded these
experiences in their memories in connection with a certain brand name. Only then do
these experiences get passed on by word of mouth and ultimately consolidate into
generally accepted public opinion. If we want to be a bit more scientific, we can also
talk about the “positive prejudices” each of us adopts without thinking too much
about it.
Positive prejudices about a brand have extremely favorable effects on a company’s
business operations. That’s because, just like negative prejudices — their ugly siblings
— they are very long-lived. Companies can rely on them and use them as a basis for
planning production and sales. Besides, positive prejudices are almost self-propagating.
They are passed down from one generation to the next. In other words, not only does
the company in question advertise its own performance, but millions of its customers
also advertise for it, voluntarily and free of charge. After all, we can assume that it’s
very difficult to persuade people who hold prejudices that they are wrong. That’s a
powerful advantage for a brand whose competitors are trying every day in a thousand
different ways to lure away its customers.
Employees also appreciate working for companies that have a good reputation.
In business contexts, dropping the name of such an employer opens doors for
you faster than just using your own name. Even in private conversations you can feel
people’s respect for you go up a notch or two if you mention the well-known good
brand you work for. And in moments like that you can also feel a bit of pride in being
part of this brand.
After all, this pride always includes pride in the contribution you yourself make
every day at the workplace so that your company’s good reputation is not only
maintained but also strengthened. It should be clear to everyone that a brand can’t live
on its good name alone. It has to confirm its good reputation over and over again
through top performance in concrete examples that customers and the general public
see every day. When everyone connected with a company is aware of this and acts
accordingly both on the job and on the outside, a brand becomes almost invulnerable.
Everyone involved in such a company, employees as well as owners and shareholders,
will reap the long-term benefits. <
www.evonik.com
Who makes lightweight
components so light?
We do.
We produce high-performance foams for
lightweight aircraft components. But there’s
much more to us. We are the creative
industrial group specialized in the fields of
Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate.
US3_Evonik_0307_engl.indd
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12.09.2007 18:51:19
13:17:11 Uhr
Uhr
www.evonik.com
Who builds power plants
all over the world?
We do.
We plan, build and operate state-of-the-art
power plants that generate electricity and
provide district heating. But there’s much
more to us. We are the creative industrial
group specialized in the fields of Chemicals,
Energy and Real Estate.
US4_Evonik_0307_engl.indd
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12.09.2007 18:53:20
13:19:09 Uhr
Uhr

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