FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's Bayer AG will spin off its chemicals division and part of its polymers business in a restructuring that will create a new chemical company and refocus Bayer's existing drug business on Europe.

The new chemicals company, called NewCo, will be floated on the stock market by early 2005, he said.

NewCo, to be headquartered in Bayer's hometown of Leverkusen, would have sales of around euro 5.6 billion ($6.4 billion) a year and employ 20,000 people in 20 countries. Its chief executive officer-designate is Axel Claus Heitmann, currently head of Bayer's Asia headquarters in Shanghai, China.

NewCo will produce a wide range of industrial chemicals and polymers. Polymers are compounds made by linking molecules in long strings, including rayon, nylon and polystyrene.