In a reshuffle of corporate functions following the relocation of group headquarters from Leverkusen, Germany, to Cologne, Germany, Lanxess is moving the headquarters of fine chemicals subsidiary Saltigo from Langenfeld, Germany, into its recently vacated Leverkusen premises.

From the end of January 2014, some 1,100 of the fine chemicals producer's 1,200 worldwide staff will work in Leverkusen, where most of the company's manufacturing facilities are based. Lanxess' Global Procurement & Logistics arm will move into the Saltigo premises at Langenfeld.

With these moves, the German group said it is strengthening its most important worldwide location for its agricultural products portfolio, which includes active ingredients for insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and insect repellents as well as advanced industrial intermediates for agrochemicals and feed additives and functional chemicals such as color coding treated seeds.

"Saltigo's headquarters needs to offer the best possible conditions to enable the company to continue efficiently steering its growth trajectory," said Lanxess managing board member Werner Breuers, adding that, "we will create these conditions by having the new main administrative center in the immediate vicinity of research and production operations."

Targeted investments at Leverkusen will ensure that Saltigo continues to occupy a leading position in the dynamic custom manufacturing market, said the company's managing director, Wolfgang Schmitz. Some €100 million will be invested in the agricultural intermediates activities at Leverkusen through 2015. About a fifth of this will be spent on additional capacities for solids isolation. The company has "a great many projects" in the pipeline, said Schmitz.