Bayer signs up for SunGard Adaptiv

Bayer, the German pharmaceuticals and chemicals company, has chosen Sungard’s Adaptiv trading and risk management product to support its commodity, foreign exchange and fixed-income trading operations.

Adaptiv will be linked to SunGard’s AvantGard treasury solution, already in place in Bayer’s treasury operation, providing integrated risk management, trading, in-house banking and cash management.

“We were looking for a risk management and trade-entry system across a wide range of asset classes that could fit well with our current SunGard treasury system,” said Alexander Burck, Bayer’s head of corporate financial controlling. “SunGard was very attractive as a single supplier that could offer straight-through processing, helping us improve efficiency and integrate our treasury and cash management operations.”

Bayer was one of the first German companies to disengage itself from long-term electricity supply contracts and implement an active portfolio management programme instead, said Wilfried Köplin, head of energy management and procurement for Bayer Technology Services.

Bayer manages more than 2,000 contracts a year. In Germany alone, Bayer uses about 6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, of which 3.5TWh is produced in its combined heat and power plants. Bayer buys the remaining 2.5TWh in the power market. Its gas consumption is also sizeable, amounting to the equivalent of 15TWh in Germany and 4TWh in the US.