AGM Statement

 
TIDM0H9V 
 
Clariant Annual General Meeting Votes in Favor of Board Proposals 
 
Muttenz, April 2, 2009 - Clariant, a world leader in specialty 
chemicals, announced today that the 14th Annual General Meeting 
adopted each of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors by 
a large majority. 
 
Approximately 500 shareholders, representing roughly 30% of the share 
capital recorded in Clariant's share register attended the Annual 
General Meeting (AGM) held on April 2, 2009 in Basel. 
T 
he AGM approved the Annual Report of the company and discharged both 
the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. No dividend or 
similar payout to shareholders will be granted in 2009. Furthermore 
the AGM agreed to increase the conditional capital from the current 
CHF 32,000,000 to CHF 160,000,000 in order to create further 
refinancing headroom. The shareholders also made some editorial 
amendments to the Articles of the Association. 
 
The term of members of the Board of Directors was reduced to three 
years from four years Klaus Jenny, member of the Board since 2005 was 
reelected. His term will end in 2012. 
 
Clariant's Chairman, Jürg Witmer, highlighted the current difficult 
macro economic environment for the chemical industry and Clariant in 
particular. The company should be ready to face reality, prepare 
itself for some difficult months ahead and accept the need for 
decisive restructuring. "We should look upon the current economic 
crisis as an opportunity to renew Clariant and to shape an 
independent, profitable, global player in the chemical industry based 
in Switzerland", he said. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel. All 
we need is confidence, courage and leadership in order to navigate 
the company through the crisis and to build our future actively and 
on our own." 
 
CEO Hariolf Kottmann emphasized that the root course for the 
company's insufficient performance compared to many competitors are 
basically structural deficits that need to be removed quickly. "We 
lag behind our peers regarding many important key performance 
indicators. The economic crisis only adds to these structural 
issues." In order to address both Clariant needs to have a stringent 
focus on cash generation, cost savings and complexity reduction. By 
the same token the company will make these restructuring efforts 
sustainable by entering into a continuous improvement. 
 
Against the backdrop of ongoing low visibility Clariant assumes a 
continuing low demand in many markets. Hariolf Kottmann: "We don't 
expect an uptake of our sales within the next months and are prepared 
for a weak 2009." 
 
- End - 
 
 
Media Contacts 
 
 
Arnd Wagner      Phone   [phone] 
                 Email   [e-mail] 
 
Nigel Thornton   Phone   + 41 61 469 67 43 
                 Email   [e-mail] 
 
 
 
Investor Relations Contacts 
 
 
Ulrich  Steiner   Phone   [phone] 
                  Email   [e-mail] 
 
 
 
Clariant - Exactly your chemistry. 
 
Clariant is a global leader in the field of specialty chemicals. 
Strong business relationships, commitment to outstanding service and 
wide-ranging application know-how make Clariant a preferred partner 
for its customers. 
 
Clariant, which is represented on five continents with over 100 group 
companies, employs around 20,000 people. Headquartered in Muttenz 
near Basel, Switzerland, it generated sales of CHF 8.1 billion in 
2008. Clariant's businesses are organized in four divisions: Textile, 
Leather & Paper Chemicals, Pigments & Additives, Masterbatches and 
Functional Chemicals. 
 
Clariant is committed to sustainable growth springing from its own 
innovative strength. Clariant's innovative products play a key role 
in its customers' manufacturing and treatment processes or else add 
value to their end products. The company's success is based on the 
know-how of its people and their ability to identify new customer 
needs at an early stage and to work together with customers to 
develop innovative, efficient solutions. 
 
www.clariant.com 
 
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