August 18, 2008

Also appeared in print Aug. 25, 2008, p. 8

Divestiture

BASF Moves Closer To Shedding Its Styrenics Businesses

For now, firm to set styrenics apart as independent subsidiaries

Patricia L. Short

BASF is continuing the divestment of its global styrenics operations with plans to reorganize the business into an as-yet-undetermined number of new subsidiaries. The new companies are expected to be established in January 2009.

Having failed in discussions that began a year ago to sell those operations to an undisclosed buyer, BASF has now widened the scope of operations to be sold to include styrene copolymers.

The new subsidiaries will operate their different parts of the styrenics business independently, BASF says.

All told, BASF plans to shed the commodities styrene monomer, polystyrene, styrene butadiene copolymer, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, as well as styrene copolymer. The styrenic commodities and styrene copolymers businesses—which collectively have about 1,600 employees—had sales of about $6 billion in 2007 and include production sites in Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, India, and South Korea.

BASF will hold onto its remaining styrenic plastics activities in foams for the construction and packaging industries.

“We are reorganizing our styrenics business to improve its future success and give us new options outside of BASF,” says Martin Brudermüller, the BASF board member responsible for the company’s plastics operations.

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