Customized footwear solutions with polyurethanes

Bayer MaterialScience’s BaySystems – systems houses serve as partners to the footwear industry and its suppliers

Wednesday - November 22, 2006 - Leverkusen – The footwear industry is a very dynamic segment that must respond quickly and flexibly to changing market demands. For Bayer MaterialScience AG – one of the world’s leading suppliers of polyurethane raw materials – individual and flexible support of customers in the footwear industry and their direct suppliers is essential if they are to continue fully exploiting the benefits of polyurethane materials in shoe production and be successful on the market. To look after these customers, Bayer MaterialScience will increasingly rely on its global network of polyurethane systems houses, which develop tailor-made solutions under the umbrella brand of BaySystems®. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region (EMEA), the key partners to the shoe industry and their suppliers are the three systems houses BaySystems Italia S.p.A., BaySystems Iberia, and BaySystems BÜFA GmbH & Co. KG.

Bayer MaterialScience’s polyurethane systems houses are characterized by their proximity to customers, enabling them to respond quickly to their needs. They are supported centrally by the Innovation segment of the Polyurethanes Business Unit, headquartered in Leverkusen, which will in future focus on the development of basic components. These components are then customized by the polyurethane systems houses in the BaySystems network to meet customers’ precise individual needs. Furthermore, the global network of Innovation Centers of Bayer MaterialScience, in particular in the Asia Pacific region, provides know-how to the footwear industry.

BaySystems® stands for consistently high quality in its service to customers and for fast and flexible technology transfer within the global systems house network, enabling customers to reap the direct benefits.

With sales of EUR 10.7 billion in 2005, Bayer MaterialScience AG is one of the world’s largest polymer manufacturers. Its main fields of activity are the production of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of everyday life. The main consumer sectors are the automotive, electrical/electronics, construction, sports and leisure industries. Bayer MaterialScience has production facilities at 40 sites around the world and a workforce of approx. 18,800. Bayer MaterialScience is part of the Bayer Group.

More news and information about products, applications and services of Bayer MaterialScience can be found at www.bayerbms.com. Further company facts and figures are outlined at www.facts.bayerbms.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Contact Information

Dr. Frank Rothbarth

Head of Media Relations Trade and Technical Press

Bayer MaterialScience AG

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