Key Events Affecting Business Performance
Acquisitions and Investments
In 2020, WACKER neither took over nor acquired a stake in any companies.
Divestitures
In 2020, WACKER concluded an agreement to transfer its stake of 30.83 percent in Siltronic AG to GlobalWafers Co. Ltd., Taiwan. The agreement remains subject to various merger-control and foreign-trade clearances.
Capital Expenditures
Capital expenditures decreased year over year, as planned. They amounted to €224.4 million in the reporting year (2019: €379.5 million).
The focus of our investing activities was on the three chemical divisions, with several projects in different countries. In Ulsan, South Korea, we completed a new dispersion reactor. We are expanding our capacities in Nanjing, China, with a new reactor for dispersions and a spray dryer for dispersible polymer powders. In Amsterdam, we invested in setting up coronavirus vaccine production capacity and in biopharmaceutical production plants. WACKER also invested in a series of small- and medium-scale projects for intermediates and downstream products, and in infrastructure measures at our fully integrated sites in Burghausen and Nünchritz.