SaarGummi parent buys large stake of Degussa, plans to divest SaarGummi

ESSEN, Germany (March 13)—SaarGummi GmbH and its wholly owned North American subsidiary, SaarGummi Americas, will be sold as part of their parent corporation's plan to focus its operations into the three core areas of mining, real estate and chemicals. As part of its new focus, RAG Aktiengesellschaft, or the "RAG Group," an international mining and technology company, completed its acquisition of a 46.5-percent stake in Degussa A.G. within the last month, said Paul O'Brien, president of Degussa Corp. in New Jersey. The bulk of the remaining share in the chemical company is owned by E.on A.G., a German energy and utility company, and another 6 to 7 percent of the company´s stock still is publicly traded. To hone its business into three core areas, RAG will divest numerous other operations, including its automotive body sealing, glass encapsulations, bellows, window profiles and roof coverings. The non-core businesses have total earnings of approximately $6.8 billion and employ 17,800 people.