BASF is reorganizing its businesses

With effect from January 1, 2008, BASF will consist of the following six segments: Chemicals, Plastics, Functional Solutions, Performance Products, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas.

A new operating division, Care Chemicals, will be established in the Performance Products segment. In the Plastics segment, the Specialty Plastics and Foams business units will be transferred from the Styrenics division to the Performance Polymers division.

The new segment Functional Solutions will combine the operating divisions Catalysts, Construction Chemicals and Coatings. These divisions work closely with their customers and supply industry- and customer-specific system solutions and innovative products, in particular for the automotive and construction industries.

The Performance Products segment will consist of the new Care Chemicals division and the Acrylics & Dispersions (previously Functional Polymers) and Performance Chemicals divisions. As a result, BASF will be better able to supply its customers worldwide with the products and innovations they need to optimize their products and processes.

The new Care Chemicals division will combine the activities of the former Fine Chemicals division – for example, products for the pharmaceutical industry and for food and feed, as well as aroma chemicals – with the Performance Chemicals division’s detergents and cleaners business. This will enable BASF to better serve the needs of its customers in the nutrition, cosmetics and personal care sectors of the consumer goods industry and in the pharmaceutical industry. The new division will employ approximately 4,600 employees worldwide and will be headed by Gabriel Tanbourgi. The division’s annual sales are approximately €3 billion.

The Performance Chemicals division provides solutions that can be used to optimize industrial goods. These solutions include performance chemicals for the oil and refinery industries, for coatings and plastics and for the leather and textile industries. The Performance Chemicals division will have around 5,000 employees worldwide and will be headed by Hans W. Reiners. The division’s annual sales are approximately €2 billion.

The structures at BASF’s main site in Ludwigshafen will be further improved by building on the successes of the Site Project. The goal is to strengthen the network of knowledge and expertise among employees and to encourage the exchange of information about the environment, health, safety, energy and engineering throughout BASF. The global roles of the Environment, Health & Safety and Engineering & Maintenance competence centers will be strengthened in order to achieve this.