BASF intends to acquire Ciba

“With the acquisition of Ciba, we are strengthening our portfolio and expanding our leading position in specialty chemicals with products and services for a variety of customer industries, in particular the plastics and coatings industries as well as water treatment,” says Jürgen Hambrecht, chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF SE. “We recognize the strength of broad areas of Ciba’s portfolio, even if the company’s performance has disappointed analysts and investors, especially in the second quarter of 2008. Ciba has a leading market position, in particular with its portfolio of plastics additives and coating effect materials.”

BASF has approximately 100 major sites worldwide, 95,000 employees, and 2007 sales of €57.9 billion ($82.6 billion). Ciba’s 60 sites employ 13,000 and earned €4.0 billion ($5.7 billion) in sales in 2007.