Zachert to Take up Post as Lanxess CEO on April 1

Matthias Zachert, CEO-designate of Lanxess, will take up his duties on Apr. 1, the company said.

When it announced the resignation of then-chief executive Axel Heitmann on Jan. 26, Lanxess said its former chief financial officer Zachert - who has held the same position at German chemicals and pharmaceuticals producer Merck KGaA since 2011 - would rejoin the company on May 15 "at the latest."

Until a new CFO for Merck has been found, CEO, Karl-Ludwig Kley will also fill that function.

Lanxess' current CFO, Bernhard Düttmann, who succeeded Heitmann as acting CEO on Feb. 28, will continue in that position until Zachert's return. Düttmann is due to present the company's 2013 balance sheet on Mar. 20; however, a press conference to discuss the results - and present figures for the first quarter of 2014 - has been rescheduled for May 8.

On Feb. 26, the former Bayer chemicals arm, spun off in 2004, said that due to unexpected negative development in its rubber business, it had taken an impairment charge of €257 million for the fourth quarter of 2013 and expected to incur a loss for the full year.