Aventis to Sell Wacker Chemie Stake In Withdrawal From Chemicals Sector 

HANDELSBLATT (Germany) 19dec00

DUESSELDORF, Germany -- French-German pharmaceuticals group Aventis SA said Monday it will sell its 50% stake in Wacker Chemie GmbH back to the Wacker family in a move that finalizes its withdrawal from the chemicals sector as it focuses its business on pharmaceuticals.

Aventis, which was created in 1998 via the merger of Germany's Hoechst AG and France's Rhone-Poulenc S.A., did not provide any financial details of the transaction, but said the deal will be concluded by 2002.

The divestment will take place in two stages over a twelve-month period.

In a first stage, to be carried out in January 2001, Alexander Wacker Familien GmbH, a holding company in which the remaining 50% stake in Wacker is parked, will acquire the majority of voting rights in Wacker via a capital increase, and gain management control over the group.

The second stage of the transaction, involving the transfer of Aventis' shares in Wacker, will not take place until 2002 due to fiscal reasons. Then, under the government's planned tax reforms, the sale of shareholdings between companies is set to become exempt from taxation.

Meanwhile, sources close to Aventis said negotiations on the divestment of the group's 67% stake in industrial-gases company Messer Griesheim are progressing well.

Shares in Aventis were sharply down during trade on Monday, despite the group's announcement of the sale of its stake in Wacker. Aventis American depositary shares receipts staged a rebound, closing at $76.25, a gain of 25 cents.

Traders said investors were turning their backs on the stock after Aventis' announcement at the weekend that it will set aside reserves of 100 million euros ($111.9 million) in the fourth quarter to cover costs arising from the recall of its genetically modified corn StarLink in the U.S.