BASF completes acquisition of Engelhard

BASF now has a 100 per cent stake in Engelhard, having spent $5 billion to secure the deal, in what has proved to be the biggest transaction in the company's 140 year history. The deal will also better position the company in a number of specialty chemical fields, including personal care.

The company says that it has started to undertake the process of integrating both Engelhard's domestic US operation and its international operations into BASF's global business framework.

"Our goal is to make Engelhard an integral part of BASF to leverage both companies' strong talent, technology and unique applications expertise. Integration teams consisting of BASF and Engelhard employees will assess the combined business needs,"​ said Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, chairman of the board, BASF Aktiengesellschaft.

Hambrecht added that the deal would help to accelerate the development of products with increased performance thanks to the combined R&D capabilities of the two companies.

The deal also means that Engelhard is now a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, which means that its shares will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

"Our customers will benefit from the accelerated development of products with superior performance through the combined R&D capabilities of our companies,"​ Hembrecht added.

As a result of the transaction, Engelhard is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, which means its shares no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

BASF first made a hostile bid for Engelhard back in January of this year, but Engelhard snubbed the $37 a share it offered, stating that it was well below the market price and the true value of the company.

Last month BASF upped its offer to $39 a share, representing an approximately 5 per cent hike in the original bid. Given the weak performance of Engelhard amidst tough market conditions, the company was ultimately left with no choice but to accept BASF's offer.

In recent months market pressures have forced Engelhard to make price increases of between 5 and 7 per cent on a number of its leading fine chemical and material lines, which have in turn impacted its bottom line considerably.

In response Engelhard has announced a re-organisation of its personal care materials business, which will see it split up into three regional offices - Europe/ Middle-EastAfrica/South-America region, which will be head-quartered in Paris, an Asia-Pacific region based in Tokyo and a North America office based in New York.