BASF SE is preparing its agriculture business for an IPO as it grapples with a challenging business environment in Europe, sources familiar with the plan told Bloomberg News. BASF’s Agricultural Solutions business reported sales of €10.1 billion in 2023, 14.6% of the company’s total net revenue.
BASF told CW it does not comment on “market rumors or speculations” and that it will present its strategy at the upcoming capital markets day on Sept. 26–27. Next week’s event could also include updates on BASF’s coatings and battery materials businesses, the source said.
BASF’s Agricultural Solutions business includes digital farming, field crop seeds and traits, fungicides, herbicides and insecticides. Fungicides and herbicides each comprises about a third of Agricultural Solutions sales. BASF said the segment has an innovation pipeline with a peak sales potential of more than €7.5 billion by 2023 and includes the industry’s first commercial biotechnology trait to control nematodes as well as a new protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) herbicide with corresponding herbicide tolerance gene.
The global crop protection market has struggled since 2022 as destocking, stabilizing grain and oilseed inventories, and price competition have offset lower costs and volume growth. Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany), the largest crop protection company globally, said late last year it was considering separating out its consumer health or crop science division but ultimately shelved the idea, citing research and development synergies.
by Rebecca Coons
Source: chemweek.com
At the beginning of May, construction started on Greensand’s Carbon Dioxide transit terminal at Port Esbjerg in Denmark. Once operational, the terminal will be a critical component in what is expected to become the EU’s first CO₂ storage facility aimed at mitigating climate change.
Representatives for Masdar and OMV signed in Vienna a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to collaborate on future opportunities in Austria, the UAE and in Central and Northern Europe. Both companies aim to explore potential avenues to develop and produce synthetic sustainable aviation fuel, other synthetic fuels and synthetic chemicals.
Finnish chemical company Kemira announces that its CFO, Petri Castrén, will leave his role by the end of the first quarter of 2026. The recruitment of a new CFO will begin immediately, and Castrén will continue in his current role until he leaves.
