Pharmaceuticals Sector - Solvay

30
“ The creation of a new
‘Molecular Solutions’
Strategic Business Unit
is a fi rst concrete step
in this direction.”
Solvay Global Annual Report 2005
The “Organic”
cluster:
Molecular Solutions
To speed up its growth, the Sector
created in 2005 a new activity
cluster, aimed at developing new
high-added-value lines of products
with high know-how content intended
for very advanced markets.
The creation of a new “Molecular
Solutions” Strategic Business
Unit is a fi rst concrete step in this
direction.
The new SBU will consolidate its
activities around:
– Solvay’s majority shareholding in
Girindus (with units at Bensberg
and Künsebeck, Germany and in
the USA), which was acquired in
a friendly takeover bid approved
by a majority of shareholders and
announced on August 24, 2005.
Girindus is a specialist research
company that manufactures and
develops a portfolio of Specialties
and of specifi c chemical processes.
Girindus has developed
unique chemical processes,
in particular for producing oligonucleotides,
which are active
compounds used in the treatment
of genetic diseases and as
active ingredients in certain niche
cosmetics.
– Peptisyntha (with units at
Neder-over-Heembeek, Belgium
and Torrance, California, USA),
a specialist in peptide synthesis.
This will permit the development
of high-added-value synergies
with Girindus in oligonucleotides
and oligopeptides.
– The fl uorinated organic chemicals
activities of the Fluor SBU,
including the Bad Wimpfen
(Germany) facility.
– The fi ne chemistry unit of Solvay
Spécialtés France at Salin-de-
Giraud (France)
– A fi ne chemicals commercial and
trading unit currently at Suresnes
(France).
The new Molecular Solutions SBU
should rapidly become fi nancially
autonomous and will in the medium
term achieve the size and dynamism
to exploit these activities in
a profi table and sustainable way.
The Molecular Solutions SBU is
headquartered at Bensburg, close
to Cologne (Germany).
In 2005 the Sector
created two
market-oriented
“Solution Units”
Again in order to generate growth,
the Sector decided to boost
its search for new activities by
focusing on a horizontal, marketdirected
approach, with greater
emphasis on Specialities.
Following the creation in 2003
of the Chemicals Business
Deployment team (CBD) to
strengthen knowledge of selected
markets and contribute to profi table
growth in the Sector by proposing
cross-SBU initiatives directed at
Chemicals Sector
high-added-value products,
two “Solution Units” were created
in 2005.
A Solution Unit is a group of
employees from various Strategic
Business Units (SBUs) who focus
on a specifi c market. By combining
offerings, this team should
considerably improve their market
knowledge and customer proximity.
It should also better serve the
market, increase profi tability and
propose a strategy for growth.
The “Health Care
Inorganics” Solution Unit will
group our offerings in the pharmaceuticals
and cosmetics fi elds,
proposing products like sodium
bicarbonate (dialysis excluded),
soda ash, precipitated sodium
carbonate, magnesium compounds,
caustic soda, hydrochloric
acid, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic
acid and sodium fl uoride.
The two “partner SBUs” of this
Solution Unit, centred at Angera
(Italy), will be Soda Ash and
Advanced Functional Minerals.
The “Soil Remediation
Reagents” Solution Unit will
develop our sales of a range of
products for the in situ remediation
of polluted soils, with a combination
of bio-remediation and
chemical oxidation. The idea is to
replicate in Europe an initial fruitful
experiment in the USA and make
full use of the considerable expertise
of the HSE (Health, Safety and
Environment) Competence Centre
of our Central Research and
Technology Management.
Initially this Solution Unit will offer
calcium and magnesium peroxides,
sodium percarbonate and hydrogen
peroxide, to be followed by
other reagents in the near future.
This Solution Unit will be established
in Brussels with Detergents
and Hydrogen Peroxide as its
SBU partners.