Bayer exec pleads guilty
WASHINGTON-Former Bayer A.G. executive Martin Petersen has agreed to plead guilty to charges of participating in a conspiracy to fix prices in the rubber chemicals market during 2000-01.
Petersen was head of global marketing and sales for Bayer's rubber business group during that period. He faces up to three years imprisonment and a $350,000 fine, according to the Justice Department. Petersen, a German national, agreed to assist the government in its ongoing rubber chemicals investigation, the department said.
Bayer A.G. earlier agreed to plead guilty to participating in the same conspiracy and pay a $66 million criminal fine. Bayer's rubber chemicals business now operates as part of Lanxess GmbH, a spinoff.
Petersen is the third person to plead guilty in the rubber chemicals price-fixing investigation.
IISRP gets new president
HOUSTON-The International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers has elected Igor Golberg international president for 2004-05.
Golberg, managing director of Russia's Efremov Kautschuk and board member of Efremov Synthetic Rubber Enterprise, replaces Steve Wood, formerly CEO of Kraton Polymers L.L.C. Wood was elected president in June, but in July was named Kraton's vice chairman, necessitating the change for the institute.
Golberg has been with Efremov SRE since 1976 and has held a variety of management positions since, including first deputy of general director, general director, and chairman and vice president of Safic Alcan Ltd., Efremov SRE's main shareholder.