Group Management Report Corporate Governance Environment, Safety, and Corporate Social Responsibility Consolidated Financial Statements 35 Group Basics Organization and Legal Structure The ALTANA Group is a global supplier of specialized chemical products and related services for different branches of industry and application fields. In the 2015 fiscal year, the Group’s 69 consolidated subsidiaries and associated companies achieved sales of more than € 2 billion for the first time. The ALTANA Group employs about 6,000 people. ALTANA’s activities are grouped into four divisions, each of which has its own management and organizational structure. The divisions and the Group companies assigned to them are decentralized and have a great deal of deci- sion-making freedom, largely making market-, location-, and product-related decisions themselves. Our divisions are active worldwide and have their own production sites and sales offices as well as research and development labora- tories in the markets that are important for them. ALTANA AG, headquartered in Wesel, is a stock corpo- ration in accordance with German law. As the ALTANA Group’s managing company, it assumes strategic control of the Group and the divisions. ALTANA AG is led by the Management Board, whose members act on their own responsibility and are solely committed to the interests of the company. The Management Board’s activities are monitored by the Supervisory Board, whose members also advise the Management Board. More information on ALTANA AG’s management and control system is provided in the Corporate Governance Report of this annual report. All of the shares in ALTANA AG are held by SKion GmbH, Bad Homburg v. d. H., Germany, an investment company owned by Susanne Klatten. The decentralized organizational structure combines the individual operating units’ ability to act swiftly and cater to the needs of markets and customers with the advantages of a financially strong and internationally active group. The organization is designed to adapt flexibly to changed market conditions and a volatile economic environment. In addition, new activities can be integrated in the organization in a short time. Business Activity and Divisions As a globally active specialty chemicals group, ALTANA focuses its core activities on sophisticated markets and customers who need individual solutions. A significant share of the ALTANA Group’s product and service portfolio encompasses input materials for the production of coatings, printing inks, and plastics. In addition, ALTANA manufactures printing inks and coatings for special applications, insulating resins for the electrical and electronics industries, sealants for packaging, and measuring and testing instruments. Activities of the Divisions BYK Additives & Instruments The BYK Additives & Instruments division is one of the leading international suppliers of special-purpose ingredients, so-called additives, used in coatings and paints, plastics, gas and oil exploration, and other industrial applications. The division’s products, most of which are used in only very small amounts, have a decisive influence on the properties of their customers’ end products or enable customers to improve their manufacturing and industrial processes. Wetting and dispersing additives, one of the division’s main product groups, help improve the distribution of pigments and filling materials, and enable them to function better, for example in coatings and plastics. With the help of defoamers and air-release additives, foaming is prevented during the manufacture of coatings and paints as well as in end customers’ applications. Surface additives are used to produce special properties such as shiny, matte or especially smooth surfaces. Rheology additives improve the flow
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