Bayer Group to invest €1bln to expand in China

Five separate projects in the pipeline

Germany’s Bayer Group said yesterday it would spend €1 billion over five years to expand its high-tech materials business in China to capitalise on the growing economy.

The company will invest in five separate projects to expand its production facilities in Shanghai, the financial hub of the world’s second largest economy, Bayer said in a statement.

The new investment is in addition to Bayer’s €2.1 billion investment in the city as part of a long-term project due to be completed in 2012.

Bayer also announced plans to move the headquarters of its polycarbonates business to Shanghai from Leverkusen in western Germany and expand its Shanghai research and development centre for polymers.

Polycarbonates are a type of plastic used in the automotive, electronic and construction industries.

China’s economy expanded 9.6 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter. The World Bank expects the economy to grow 10 per cent this year before slowing to 8.7 percent in 2011.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.