Three questions for Dr. Dominic Deller, Executive Board Member for Finance and HR

SAMSON employs more than 2,000 people (including 100 trainees) and is one of Frankfurt's largest employers. What is SAMSON's underlying motive for leaving Frankfurt's east end and relocating to Offenbach?
The simple answer is that we need to plan for the future and that the relocation is the next logical step for our family-owned business. We understand that the city of Frankfurt is disappointed. After all, SAMSON has been headquartered here for more than 100 years. Yet, we had to consider the current situation and plan for the future of our employees provide them with long-term prospects. Bearing responsibility for our employees while not losing sight of the expectations of our customers, business associates, suppliers and shareholders means that we must remain a dependable partner. The relocation project, which we have named MainChange, is strategic foresight. In any case, we are not moving far away or even leaving the country. Rather, we are planning to invest EUR 300 million in the new site on the opposite bank of the river Main until 2030. This will give the local construction industry as well as business in general a considerable boost. We will continue to make considerable tax contributions and focus our operations in Germany and the Rhein-Main region.

What speaks in favor of Offenbach in comparison to Frankfurt?
Over the past 115 years, SAMSON AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT has grown significantly in size and the 130,000 m² production site on Weismüllerstraße cannot be expanded any further. The rapid advance in technology, digital transformation, the transportation network and other infrastructural factors take up space and call for expansion. In my role as CFO and business administrator, I discerned that SAMSON's profitability at the Frankfurt site would have started to deteriorate by 2026 at the latest as we cannot grow any further. What's more, our production and logistics operations are at a turning point where we need to rethink and take the next step to push SAMSON to new heights. Our considerations revolve around competitiveness and the will to establish ourselves as an attractive employer for the next generation of talents. Modern buildings, innovative machinery and state-of-the-art production methods will attract the attention of customers and business partners as well. They are the factors that will define the new SAMSON universe in Offenbach on the former site of Allessa, a specialty chemicals producer. Our vision of a new 'factory in the city' would be extremely difficult to implement at the present site; if at all possible, it would cost us enormous amounts of money and require us to compromise in many ways.

Does environmental awareness play a role in the new 'factory in the city'?
Absolutely. We are focusing on energy efficiency and sustainable work. The way we look at it, ecology and economy are not conflicting spheres. On the contrary, we have set our architects and consultants the task to come up with a climate-optimized factory. The factory setup itself plays a major role, yet, the main focus is on SAMSON's ecological footprint and sustaining our long-term competitive edge.