New lead in BASF Crop Protection Europe

Following four years as Group Vice President of the BASF Crop Protection Regional Business Unit Europe, Klaus Welsch will take over the lead of a senior project within BASF.

His successor will be Vincent Gros, currently Managing Director, Business Management Crop Protection France, as Head of BASF Agro SAS and BASF Agri SAS, as of January 1, 2010.

As Group Vice President for the Crop Protection business in Europe, Klaus Welsch successfully further enhanced BASF customer relations and relations to other stakeholders in the agricultural value chain in Europe and positioned the business well to meet also future customer needs in many countries throughout Europe.

Vincent Gros has an Engineering Degree in Agricultural Sciences from the ENSA in Montpellier. He joined BASF France in 1992 in the Agro Division and held different executive positions in BASF Horticulture and Jardin SA. In 2001 he joined BASF Agro as Head of Value Chain Management Agro France before he took over his recent position in 2005. With his strong industry experience and expertise in Agriculture he is well prepared to further enhance BASF presence in the European Crop Protection arena.

About the Crop Protection division

With sales of €3.4 billion in 2008, BASF’s Crop Protection division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to the farming industry providing well-established and innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use these products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market success. The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production, improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality of life for a growing world population. Further information can be found on the web at www.agro.basf.com

About BASF

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products, fine chemicals and oil and gas. As a reliable partner BASF helps its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF posted sales of more than €62 billion in 2008 and had approximately 97,000employees as of the end of the year. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.