Lanxess scheduled to leave Bayer Group in early 2005.

Lanxess, formed through a restructuring of the Bayer Group, is said to represent a long tradition of innovation and technical expertise in the U.S. market for chemicals, synthetic rubber and plastics. Lanxess is scheduled to leave the Bayer Group at the beginning of 2005. The formation of Lanxess and its separation from Bayer will enable the new company to concentrate its resources on core businesses and speed decision-making in order to respond to customer needs more rapidly and anticipate market trends more effectively, according to Randall S. Dearth, president and CEO of Lanxess. With annual sales of nearly $7.4 billion, Lanxess expects to be a major player in the global chemical industry through a broad portfolio of products from four general categories comprising chemical intermediates, engineering plastics, performance chemicals and synthetic rubber. Lanxess has chosen to locate its headquarters in Findlay Township, Allegheny County, outside Pittsburgh, PA.

With the construction of new production plants for polyurethane and coating raw materials near Shanghai, Bayer MaterialScience AG is said to be set to increase its long--term competitiveness in the growth market of China. By 2006, a production facility for the coating raw material hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and a production plant and logistics facilities for the polyurethane raw material diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) will be built in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Caojing. The two projects represent a total investment of around $200 million. A sum of around $4.1 billion has been earmarked for investment in the integrated production site of Caojing near Shanghai, of which Bayer has allocated $1.8 billion for the construction of new facilities for polymer production.

Firestone Building Products, Carmel, IN, plans to expand thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) manufacturing capabilities to better serve the commercial roofing market in the southern and western United States. The company is currently reviewing sites for a second Firestone UltraPly TPO plant, which will bring the manufacturer's total TPO membrane production lines to three. In addition, TPO inventories at existing facilities will be expanded to better meet growing regional demand and ensure job site delivery with minimal lead time. In conjunction with increased TPO manufacturing and distribution, Firestone will phase out PVC offerings by mid-year 2005.

Bridgestone, Tokyo, Japan, will spend $90 million to build a factory in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China, that will produce high-carbon steel cord used to reinforce tires. Bridgestone officially opened a Chinese tire plant in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, about 120 kilometers west of Shanghai. The plant, which operates as Bridgestone (Wuxi) Tire, manufactures radial tires for passenger cars. It is Bridgestone's third tire plant in China and the first that the company has built there.

Continental AG will spend about $260 million to build a tire plant in Brazil. Continental plans to start making tires in 2006 at the plant, located in Camacari in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Another plant on the site will be built later to produce tires for commercial vehicles. The plants will have production capacity for 6 million tires for cars and 700,000 tires for trucks and buses. Continental said the tires will be sold mostly in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Cooper Tire & Rubber, Findlay, OH, has signed a definitive agreement to sell its automotive business, Cooper-Standard Automotive, to an entity formed by the Cypress Group and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners for approximately $1.165 billion in cash, subject to certain post-closing adjustments.

Huntsman plans to build the world's largest low density polyethylene (LDPE) manufacturing facility (400,000 mt per year production) in Teesside, U.K.