Letter from the Management Board 3 At ELANTAS, the Italian sites Ascoli Piceno, Collecchio, and Quattordio were combined with the German company in Hamburg to form one organizational unit with joint function- al areas at the turn of the year. Hence ELANTAS, too, is growing together in an effort to achieve even greater efficiency, primarily in Europe. At the same time, a cross-divisional research center for the promising printed electronics market was established in Hamburg. In 2015, ECKART made one of its largest single investments at its home location in Hartenstein near Nuremberg by building a dry grinding unit. With the facility, the division has boosted its capacity for manufacturing functional effect pigments used to produce aerated concrete to become more independent from changing color trends. In the last fiscal year, ECKART also created the basis for becoming a significantly leaner and less complex orga- nization. As a result, the division has established the prerequisites for future growth. ACTEGA, too, will make its expertise available to its customers better and in a more tar- geted way due to an organizational realignment toward global market segments. With the new and agile positioning, in the future the division will be able to optimally unfold its strengths and exploit synergy potential between the individual companies. Thus, ACTEGA can now become even more productive and innovative. In addition to its ability to transform, strong investments in the future remain an important success factor for ALTANA. That’s why in 2015 we once again invested an above-aver- age amount – six percent – of our sales in research and development worldwide. Addition- ally, in August we ensured ourselves headroom for further growth, including through acquisitions, by extending a syndicated line of credit amounting to € 250 million, which can be increased at any time. Due to ALTANA’s solid financial situation, the credit facility agreement contains provisions easing documentation obligations and covenants significantly. At the same time, even as a private company we continue to fulfill our aspiration of increasing debt only to an extent that would be adequate for the requirements of an investment grade rating. All of these examples illustrate once again that ALTANA’s vision to be leading in everything we do is not lip service, but continually provides incentive for us to achieve the best solutions. We have no doubt that with the changes we have ushered in we will continue
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