Essential News

• The project is projected to reach 80 employees by the end of 2017.

• Center is located in El Tobogán Corporate Center.

San Jose, Costa Rica October 20th, 2016. Evonik, a group headquartered in Germany, inaugurated a new shared services center in Costa Rica which will provide financial services to its operations in the Americas. Ana Helena Chacón, Vice President of Costa Rica, Alexander Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade, representatives from the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and senior executives of the Evonik Group attended the event.

Evonik plans to grow to 80 employees in 2017 and is already hiring bilingual staff to provide services on accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger and cost accounting functions.

Vice President Chacón, said: “I am very pleased by the opening of this new center. This speaks about growth and being an appropriate and reliable country to invest in. In the globalized and competitive world we live in, undoubtedly, such investments and expansions make the difference. Costa Rica is a small country with very great talent. Therefore, it is of great honor that multinational companies make their decisions based on human talent and high qualification of our people”.

Ute Wolf, chief financial officer at Evonik Industries AG, underscored that “the establishment of the shared financial services center for the region Americas is an important milestone for Evonik. The Costa Rican hub is part of a global project which aims for scalability and further increasing our efficiency by streamlining and bundling our financial services activities worldwide”. There will be a center of excellence and three international hubs with Costa Rica being one of it. Ute Wolf thanked everybody involved for their ongoing commitment and continuing individual contribution.

Burkhard Zoller, Regional CFO, mentioned “Evonik recognizes the value of Costa Rica, especially for its talent, its potential and the high level of education, that will ensure our success in the country”.

Meanwhile, Alexander Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade, added: “Costa Rica has been successful in the duty of attracting investment, specifically in regards to the services sector, where the country has positioned itself as a strong leader in the continent, resulting in the materialization of projects like the one we are pleased to inaugurate today. A few months ago, we received with great joy Evonik's decision to establish its services center in Costa Rica; and today we celebrate the beginning of what we know will be a successful operation. As a country, we remain committed to the task of creating the best conditions in Costa Rica for projects like this one to successfully establish with the right conditions, which also results in the country's success, generating high quality employment for the population, among other benefits”.

Vanessa Gibson, Director of Corporate Development and Investment Climate at CINDE, said “On several occasions we have recognized the contribution of the services sector to the country, not only in job generation, but in the knowledge transfer that these companies provide to their employees. The 139 companies that currently make up the services sector will certainly allow Costa Rica to be on the world scene as a strategic destination for such operations”.

Evonik will support its financial operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil from Costa Rica.

Those interested in applying to one of the available positions may email costaricacareers@evonik.com or access https://jobs.evonik.com/.

About Evonik

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals operating in the Nutrition andamp; Care, Resource Efficiency and Performance Materials segments. The company benefits from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. In 2015 more than 33,500 employees generated sales of around €13.5 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about €2.47 billion.

The company has a presence in more than 100 countries with production facilities in 24 countries on five continents. Evonik is publicly traded, and its shares are included in prestigious sustainability indices.