BASF creates chemistry for a sustainable future.
“We create chemistry” strategy well on track
•Capital discipline and operational excellence remain key
in volatile times

Ludwigshafen, Germany – September 28, 2015 – “We are well on track with our ‘We create chemistry’ strategy despite a challenging environment. We are growing BASF with the goal of making it even more profitable,” said Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, at the BASF Investor Day 2015 in Ludwigshafen.

Growth in chemical production to outpace global GDP
BASF expects chemical production to continue to grow well above global GDP until 2020. However, the business environment has changed since the company introduced its “We create chemistry” strategy in 2011. “Major markets did not grow as fast as anticipated. The oil price has been unpredictable and has decreased substantially. Geopolitics have contributed to higher volatility,” said Bock. As a result, BASF has slightly adjusted its expectations for the global economic environment from 2015 to 2020 (compound annual growth rates; assumptions from 2011 in parentheses):
•Growth of gross domestic product: 3.0% (3.2%)
•Growth in industrial production: 3.5% (3.7%)
•Growth in chemical production: 3.9% (4.0%)

The development varies by region: The emerging markets will remain the global growth drivers; Asia Pacific is already the largest chemical market today. BASF projects that Western Europe will get back on the growth path, but on a low level. Competitive feedstock costs and an expanding economy will drive the growth of chemical production in North America.

In the next years, BASF aims to grow sales slightly faster than global chemical production; the company wants to grow EBITDA well above global chemical production. “We will continue to add value as one company. Our Verbund approach was the reason for our success over the past 150 years and it will serve us very well also in the future,” said Bock. In order to achieve its goals, BASF has set the following priorities for its business.

Innovations: This year, BASF will achieve its target of generating €10 billion of sales with products and solutions that have been on the market since 2010. BASF aims to maintain its R&D spending at around 3% of sales excluding Oil & Gas.

Investments: Following a number of years with large capital projects, BASF will bring down capital expenditures to levels slightly above depreciation in the coming years.

Continuous portfolio management: In about 70% of its businesses, BASF has a top three market position. BASF will add new specialty and solutions businesses through its innovation pipeline as well as acquisitions. The company will, however, also continue to look for better owners of businesses that only provide a low strategic fit.

Sustainability: BASF has conducted sustainability assessments on approximately 98% of its entire portfolio of more than 60,000 specific product applications. The company aims to further increase the proportion of products and solutions, which make a substantial sustainability contribution in the value chain.

Operational excellence: BASF has announced a further operational excellence program called DrivE – Drive Efficiency. It will run from 2016 to 2018 and targets an annual earnings contribution of €1 billion by the end of 2018.

BASF will remain focused on cash generation. From 2010 to 2014, BASF had free cash flow of more than €15 billion. Over these five years, BASF paid out €12 billion in dividends. “We remain committed to deliver attractive returns. Our goal is to earn a significant premium on our cost of capital. We will continue our progressive dividend policy,” said Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel, Chief Financial Officer of BASF.

The Investor Day keynote presentation by Dr. Kurt Bock and Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel can be found under:  www.basf.com/investorday2015

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BASF lifts Force Majeure declaration for Polyamide 6.6 Compounds
BASF is lifting the Force Majeure (FM) declaration for polyamide 6.6 compounds (Ultramid® A, Capron® PA6.6) with immediate effect.

The production problems in the hexamethylenediamine (HMD)-plant in Seal Sands (UK) are eliminated. Thus BASF is lifting the Force Majeure declaration for HMD, AH salt and polyamide 6.6 polymer and the resulting FM declaration for the polyamide 6.6 compounds. Both FM were declared in June this year.

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet.

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BASF sets global goals for diversity in leadership team
•Proportion of women in leadership to match percentage of women in BASF’s workforce by 2021
•Continued focus on international experience of senior executives

BASF has set itself global goals for the promotion of diversity in its management team. By 2021, the company aims to raise the overall proportion of women in positions with disciplinary leadership responsibilities from today’s 19% to 22%–24% globally, a share that reflects the percentage of women in BASF’s global workforce.
In light of the relatively low turnover rate in the BASF Group’s leadership team, this is an ambitious goal. Around the world, BASF also wants to further increase the number of senior executives from countries other than Germany. This proportion was at 34% at the end of 2014. Furthermore, BASF wants to maintain its number of senior executives with international experience at over 80%, a goal the company has already surpassed, achieving a proportion of 83% by the end of 2014.

With these goals, BASF is advancing its globally integrated approach to promoting diversity and developing its leaders. BASF has already been fostering different dimensions of diversity through a range of measures worldwide for over ten years.

“Our markets are becoming increasingly global in character. In order to better understand the diverse requirements of our customers around the world and develop solutions for them, we need to be an attractive employer for the best people in all markets. Our goals are an incentive for us to become even better in promoting diversity,” says Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE.

The goals to promote greater balance in terms of gender and nationality in BASF’s leadership team extend across BASF Group worldwide and levels of management as a whole. In other words, the goal for the percentage of women in leadership is not meant to be reflected in each individual country, company or management level; BASF will ensure compliance with national and local laws.

In Germany, BASF SE will implement the Act on Equal Participation of Women and Men in Executive Positions in the Private and the Public Sector as follows:
•If new appointments to the Supervisory Board of BASF SE are necessary, the proportion of women will be raised to at least 30% in accordance with the legal requirements. This figure is currently 25%.
•In addition, the Supervisory Board has determined that at least one member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE shall be female. Based on currently eight members of the Board of Executive Directors, this corresponds to 12.5%. This share has already been achieved today.
•The Board of Executive Directors has furthermore determined target figures for the percentage of women on the two management levels directly below the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, in accordance with legal requirements in Germany. These are 9.4% for the proportion of women on the level of BASF SE’s management directly below the Board of Executive Directors, and 11.8% for the level below that. This corresponds to the current percentages.
•The period to achieve the targets for the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and the two management levels directly below the Board was set for December 31, 2016. The company will review these figures at the end of 2016 and again decide on goals for BASF SE.

The company will report on its progress toward reaching these goals on an annual basis.

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at  www.basf.com.

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BASF.
License agreement adds countries in Southeast Asia; Optional capacity for up to 75,000 metric tons per year; Targeting large-scale commercial production of renewable butanediol using Genomatica technology

In California, BASF and Genomatica have expanded the scope of their license agreement for the production of 1,4-butanediol based on renewable feedstock (renewable BDO) using Genomatica’s patented process. The parties added certain countries in Southeast Asia to their initial agreement, which focused on North America.

BASFThe license agreement allows BASF to build a world-scale production facility that will use the Genomatica process to manufacture renewable BDO. BASF has secured rights to allow production of up to 75,000 tons per year. Under the terms of the agreement, Genomatica will continue to advance its patented GENO BDO process technology for the production of renewable BDO. The process, which includes a single-step fermentation, can be based on dextrose or sucrose as renewable feedstock. It was agreed not to disclose financial details of the license contract.

BASF has produced commercial volumes of renewable BDO, offering it to customers for testing and commercial use. The quality of this BDO is comparable to petrochemical-based BDO. BASF also expanded its portfolio by producing and offering Polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF) made from renewable BDO.

BDO and its derivatives are used for producing plastics, solvents, electronic chemicals and elastic fibers for the packaging, automotive, textile, and sports and leisure industries, among others. BASF currently produces BDO and BDO equivalents at its sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Geismar, Louisiana; Chiba, Japan; Kuantan, Malaysia; and Caojing, China. BASF announced it would increase its global capacities for BDO to 650,000 metric tons and for PolyTHF to 350,000 metric tons by the end of 2015, and beginning of 2016, respectively.

The news follows on closely from an equity investment in Genomatica from Cargill, which also secured rights to make additional investments, as part of an agreement tin which the partners will co-market Cargill’s feedstock and production services to current and prospective Genomatica licensees, and chemical users.The collaboration, according to the partners, “will give chemical producers, distributors and users access to a reliable, cost-effective source of carbohydrate feedstocks, co-location support services and production partnerships.”

Reaction from the stakeholders
“We are happy to expand our license agreement with Genomatica to the dynamic Asia-Pacific region,” said Stefan Blank, President of BASF’s Intermediates division, and added: “we appreciate Genomatica’s openness to give BASF greater flexibility to add BDO from renewable feedstock to our portfolio and to respond to market requirements.”

“We’re delighted to provide BASF with these additional license rights for our GENO™ technology,” said Christophe Schilling, CEO of Genomatica. “We look forward to seeing our technology deliver sustainability benefits to our business partners, and through them, to end-users of everyday products.”

Corbion
heeft ook een overeenkomst en samenwerking met BASF
BASF en CSM richten 50-50 joint venture op voor barnsteenzuur op biologische basis
5-10-2012
Succinity GmbH wordt een toonaangevende leverancier van barnsteenzuur Plannen voor barnsteenzuurproductie op industriële schaal BASF en CSM-dochter Purac werken momenteel aan de oprichting van een joint venture voor de productie en verkoop van barnsteenzuur op biologische basis. Het nieuwe bedrijf, Succinity GmbH, zal in 2013 operationeel zijn. De oprichting van Succinity GmbH is onderhevig aan registratie bij de relevante mededingingsautoriteiten. Het hoofdkantoor van het bedrijf wordt gevestigd in Düsseldorf, Duitsland.