BASF completes $5B acquisition of Engelhard
Huntsville plant employs 500; no job losses expected

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

From staff, wire reports

German chemical company BASF AG said Monday it had completed its $5 billion acquisition of U.S. based Engelhard Corp. and has begun integrating it into the company.

"Our goal is to make Engelhard an integral part of BASF to leverage both, companies' strong talent, technology and unique applications expertise," said BASF Chairman Jurgen Hambrecht. "Integration terms consisting of BASF and Engelhard employees will assess the combined business needs."

Engelhard has a plant in Huntsville that employs about 500. BASF said earlier that no job losses are expected.

New Jersey-based Engelhard, now a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, agreed to the takeover offer on May 30 after the German company sweetened its offer to $39 a share from the initial $37 it offered when it began the bid in January.

Engelhard’s managers had rejected the original price as too low.

Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF said it would use the deal to create a global player in chemical products such as pigments and catalysts. Engelhard pigments are used to give color to products such as autos, plastics, paper and ink. Its catalysts are used to further chemical reactions in making a broad range of products, including petroleum and detergent.

Engelhard also makes catalytic converters, a system that treats automobile emissions and other types of engine emissions, essentially removing pollutants before they are released into the atmosphere.

The Huntsville plant, built in 1974, does the sophisticated coating work on the converters, which resemble a honeycomb with numerous air chambers allowing the air to pass through and be cleansed.

BASF, which produces chemicals, plastics, crude oil and natural gas, employs 81,000 workers worldwide and last year posted sales more than 42.7 billion euros ($54 billion).