New name for Bayer MaterialScience

Polymer materials supplier Bayer MaterialScience began operating under a new name, Covestro, on September 1. The company is now legally and economically independent, but will remain a 100 percent subsidiary of Bayer. Covestro’s independence is intended to allow parent company Bayer to focus on its life sciences businesses.

Sporting goods and textiles will remain among the target markets for Covestro’s products and applications, including its raw materials for polyurethane foam, high-performance polycarbonates and specialty chemicals, including raw materials for coatings, adhesives and films.

The parts of Bayer’s business that now make up Covestro achieved sales of €11.7 billion in 2014 and employed 14,200 at 30 production sites at the start of 2015. Its headquarters are in Leverkusen, Germany. According to the company, it intends to float Covestro on the stock market by mid-2016 at the latest.