Muttenz, 15 February 2012 - At the 17th Annual General Meeting of Clariant Ltd on March 27, 2012, Dr. Jürg Witmer will step down from his roles as Chairman and Member of Clariant Ltd's Board of Directors. The Board has appointed the current Vice-Chairman Dr. Rudolf Wehrli as his successor

Dr. Jürg Witmer will in future focus more on his longstanding directorship mandates as well as taking on new challenges in Asia. Hariolf Kottmann, CEO: "As Chairman of the Board, Jürg Witmer's has steered Clariant out of the crisis toward profitable growth in the last four years, despite the somewhat challenging conditions. I'd like to sincerely thank Jürg Witmer in the name of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and all our employees."

Dr. Rudolf Wehrli, born 1949, began his professional career at McKinsey & Co. After working at Credit Suisse and the Silent Gliss Group, he moved on to the Gurit-Heberlein Group, eventually becoming its CEO. Rudolf Wehrli will take up office as Chairman of the Board of Clariant Ltd after the Annual General Meeting of March 27, 2012.

Dr. Klaus Jenny, born 1942, will not be standing for re-election at the 17th Annual General Meeting of Clariant AG on March 27, 2012. The Board of Directors would like to thank Klaus Jenny for his 7 years in office, especially for his commitment as president to the company's Audit Committee.

Dr. Günter von Au, born 1951, will take up his mandate as a Member of the Board of Directors on April 1, 2012, after stepping down from his position as CEO at Süd-Chemie AG. Günter von Au was appointed to the Board of Directors by the 16th Annual General Meeting of Clariant Ltd on March 31, 2011.

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Clariant is an internationally active specialty chemical company, based in Muttenz near Basel. The group owns over 100 companies worldwide and employed 22 149 employees on December 31, 2011. In the financial year 2011, Clariant produced a turnover of CHF 7.4 billion. Clariant is divided into eleven business units: Additives; Catalysis & Energy; Emulsions, Detergents & Intermediates; Functional Materials; Industrial & Consumer Specialties; Leather Services; Masterbatches; Oil & Mining Services; Paper Specialties; Pigments; Textile Chemicals.
Clariant focuses on creating value by investing in future profitable and sustainable growth, which is based on four strategic pillars: Improving profitability, innovation as well as research and development, dynamic growth in emerging markets, and optimizing the portfolio through complementary acquisitions or divestments.