Cognis in brief

Company portrait
Cognis is a worldwide supplier of innovative specialty chemicals and nutritional ingredients, with a particular focus on the areas of wellness and sustainability. The company employs about 7,600 people, and it operates production sites and service centers in 30 countries. Cognis has dedicated its activities to a high level of sustainability and delivers natural source raw materials and ingredients for food, nutrition and healthcare markets, and the cosmetics, detergents and cleaners industries. Another main focus is on products for a number of other industries, such as coatings and inks, lubricants, agriculture and mining.

Cognis has been an integrated part of Henkel, a leading German consumer products company, until 1999, when it became an operationally independent business unit. In November 2001, Cognis was bought from Henkel by private equity funds advised by Permira, GS Capital Partners and SV Life Sciences.

Strategic business units
Cognis is divided into three strategic business units: Care Chemicals, Nutrition & Health, and Functional Products.

Care Chemicals:
Enabling manufacturers to benefit from the wellness trend
Cognis is a leading international supplier of products and complete formulations in the personal and home care segment. With a clear focus on the worldwide wellness market, Cognis is able to offer a single-source capability in the provision of active ingredients, sensory performance and technologies for enhanced convenience benefits. The business unit provides innovative formulation know how and solutions including market ready concepts for the cosmetics, body care and cleaners industry. With its profound knowledge of local and global market trends, Cognis is able to generate new ideas, providing solutions that bring competitive advantages for its customers.

Markets and areas of application

• Hair/Body/Oral Care: hair cleansing, hair treatment, facial and body cleansing, oral care
• Skin Care: facial, body and baby care, sun care, deodorants and antiperspirants, color cosmetics
• Home Care: hard surface care, fabric care
• Industrial & Institutional Cleaning: cleaners, textile hygiene
• Skintex: natural ingredients for cosmetotextiles
• Silicates

Nutrition & Health:
natural source ingredients for functional foods
Health and physical and spiritual wellbeing in conjunction with convenience benefits are the main requirements encountered in the wellness market. With natural-source ingredients and extensive know-how in relation to healthy nutrition, Cognis is able to provide products, formulations and marketing-oriented concepts for food, beverages and dietary supplements: from phytosterols and plant extracts to mixed carotenoids and products for active body composition management. Cognis is also one of the world´s leading manufacturers of natural-source vitamin E.

Markets and areas of application

• Dietary Supplements: natural-source nutrients including vitamin E, mixed tocopherols, mixed carotenoids, botanical specialties, lutein esters, alpha lipoic acid, phytosterols, and omega-3 fatty acids
• Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare: excipients for the pharmaceutical industry like sterols, high purity oleochemicals and derivatives, botanical ingredients, antioxidants
• Food Technology: food emulsifiers, specialty compounds and functional ingredients from baked goods to ingredients for ready-to-eat desserts
• Functional Food & Medical Nutrition: functional lipids, phytosterols, botanical specialties, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and functional products such as antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, natural-source vitamin E and natural-source carotenoids.

Functional Products:
combining ecological soundness with high performance
Sustainability and performance are the principal demands being voiced by industry, legislatures and consumer markets alike. With its broad chemical and surface technology expertise, Cognis delivers specific solutions that are consistently aligned to ecological compatibility, application reliability, consumer safety and the achievement of a superior performance profile. With its formulation and application know-how, Cognis is able to provide impetus for new concepts in a wide variety of industrial markets.

Markets and aras of application

• Polymers, Coatings & Inks: additives, binders and hardeners for many kinds of coatings, printing inks, adhesives and polymerization products
• Synlubes Technology: products to formulate hydraulic and transmission fluids, automotive, aircraft and refrigerant lubricants, as well as additives for fuels and metalworking fluids
• AgroSolutions, Specialty Solutions (formerly: Fermentation & Specialties): additives and adjuvants for plant protection formulations as well as nutrients, emulsifiers and defoamers
• Mining & Ion-Transfer Technology: solutions for metal extraction, metal recovery and recycling, and for the elimination of heavy metals from wastes

Facts and Figures

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