Bayer Corporation Names New MaterialScience and Corporate and Business Services Chiefs.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

Bayer Corporation today announced new Bayer MaterialScience LLC (BMS) and Bayer Corporate and Business Services LLC (BCBS) chiefs. The appointments will take effect in the third quarter.

Bayer named Gregory Babe, currently Head of BCBS, as President and Chief Executive Officer of Bayer MaterialScience LLC and Head of the BMS NAFTA Region. He succeeds Ian Paterson, who was previously named to the BMS global Board of Management.

Willy Scherf, who is currently a member of the Board of Management and the Labor Director of Bayer CropScience AG, will succeed Babe as BCBS Head.

Babe joined Bayer in 1980 and rose through several management positions within the Polyurethanes Group. In 1989, he was transferred to the corporation's Brunsbuettel, Germany, facility as plant manager. In 1992, he was named Director and General Manager of Hennecke Machinery, a Pittsburgh-based unit of the Bayer Polymers Division.

In 1995, Babe was named Vice President of Corporate Quality and, in 1997, Director of Bayer's business process re-engineering program. He was named Senior Vice President of Information Services in 1999. Babe became Head of BCBS in January 2004.

A West Virginia native, Babe holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University.

Scherf joined Bayer AG in 1977 in the Corporate Auditing Department. Between 1980 and 1993, he held various financial and accounting managerial positions at Bayer locations in Morocco, Hong Kong and Brazil, and assignments at Bayer AG's Leverkusen, Germany, headquarters.

From 1993 to 1997, Scherf was responsible for financial controlling and mergers and acquisitions in the corporation's former Crop Protection Business Group. He served as Director of Finance and Accounting at Bayer Antwerpen N.V. and Bayer International in Antwerp, Belgium, from 1997 through 2001, when he was appointed Head of Business Planning and Administration in the former Bayer AG Animal Health Business Group.

A native of Germany, Scherf holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the Fachhochschule fur Wirtschaft in Cologne, Germany.

Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is the U.S. holding company of the worldwide Bayer Group, an international health care and chemicals group based in Leverkusen, Germany. Bayer employs 23,300 in North America with net North American sales of 8.8 billion euros in 2003. Bayer's four operating business areas -- HealthCare, CropScience, Polymers and Chemicals-- produce a broad range of products that help diagnose and treat diseases, purify water, preserve local landmarks, protect crops, advance automobile safety and durability and improve people's lives.

The Bayer Group has 115,400 employees. Its stock is a component of the DAX and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: BAY). For 2003, the Group recorded sales of 28.6 billion euros and a group net loss of 1.4 billion euros. Capital expenditures totaled 1.7 billion euros, and 2.4 billion euros was invested in research and development.

This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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