Clariant Annual General Meeting Approves Capital Increase for Süd-Chemie Acquisition

Muttenz, March 31, 2011 - Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, announced today that the 16th Annual General Meeting adopted each of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors.

515 shareholders, representing roughly 31% of the share capital recorded in Clariant's share register attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on March 31, 2011 in Basel.

The AGM approved the Annual Report of the company and discharged the corporate bodies of the company for their actions in the business year 2010. In view of the funds to be used for the acquisition of Süd-Chemie AG, the shareholders voted for the proposal to forego payment of a dividend and to allocate the available net profit to the free reserves. For the first time, the AGM voted on the compensation policy and approved the policy by means of a consultative vote.

The Board of Directors was authorized by the AGM to create share capital for the acquisition of Süd-Chemie AG, Munich, Germany. Share capital can be increased to a maximum of CHF 340 000 000 by issuing a maximum of 85 000 000 fully paid up registered shares, each with a par value of CHF 4.00. The part of the capital increase not allocated to the family shareholders will be executed in the form of an at-market rights issue announced on or around April 7, 2011.

The AGM elected and respectively re-elected several members of the board of directors. For the first time, the current Süd-Chemie board members Dr. Dolf Stockhausen and Konstantin Winterstein as well as Süd-Chemie CEO Dr. Günter von Au were elected to the Board of Directors. The elections remain under the condition precedent that those newly-elected members will step down from their current roles at Süd-Chemie AG.

Dr. Peter Isler, member of the Board of Directors since 2004, Dr. Dominik Koechlin, member since 2008, Dr. Hariolf Kottmann, member since 2008, Carlo G. Soave, member since 2008, Dr. Rudolf Wehrli, member and Vice-Chairman since 2007 and Dr. Jürg Witmer, Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2007, were all re-elected individually.

www.clariant.com

Clariant is a global leader in the field of specialty chemicals. Clariant, which is represented on five continents with over 100 group companies, employs around 16,200 people. Head-quartered in Muttenz near Basel, Switzerland, it generated sales of CHF 7.1 billion in 2010. Clariant is organized into ten Business Units: Additives; Detergents & Intermediates; Emulsions; Industrial & Consumer Specialties; Leather Services; Masterbatches; Oil & Mining Services; Paper Specialties; Pigments; and Textile Chemicals.

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This release was published on openPR.