Group Basics
Group Management Report Products Safety Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 45
Organization and Legal Structure
The ALTANA Group is a global supplier of specialized chemi-
cal products and related services for different branches of
industry and application fields. In the 2016 fiscal year, the
Group’s 65 consolidated subsidiaries and associated com-
panies achieved sales of more than € 2 billion. 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 empowered to largely make
market-, location-, and product-related decisions themselves.
The divisions are active worldwide and have their own
production sites and sales offices as well as research and
development
laboratories in the regional markets that are
important for them.
ALTANA AG, headquartered in Wesel, is a stock cor-
poration 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 Man-
agement Board, whose members act on their own re-
sponsibility and are solely committed to the interests of the
company. The Management Board’s activities are moni-
tored 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 section of this 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 into 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 cus-
tomers who need individual solutions.
A significant share of the ALTANA Group’s product and
service portfolio encompasses input materials for the pro-
duction of coatings, printing inks, and plastics. In addition,
ALTANA manufactures printing inks and coatings for spe-
cial applications, insulating resins for the electrical and elec-
tronics 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 behav-