Kassel. Wintershall Holding AG today announces that Wintershall Norwegen Explorations- und Produktions-GmbH ("Wintershall") has obtained the necessary clearance from the Norwegian Competition Authority for completion of its voluntary offer to acquire Revus Energy ASA stated in the Offer Document on 4 November 2008.
In the first quarter of 2009 BASF will start up a new plant for the production of up to 3,500 metric tons of piperazine chips per year at its integrated Antwerp ‘Verbund’ site. This will significantly increase the company’s current annual capacity and also improve the quality of the product, especially the color stability. The step is BASF’s response to its customers’ strong demand for high-quality piperazine chips.
Schmitz Cargobull showcased the first compressed-air tank made of plastic for truck trailers at the International Motor Show (IAA) for Commercial Vehicles in Hannover, Germany in September of 2008. This part was developed by the Comat company of Kaiserslautern, Germany using three precisely harmonized Ultramid® types (PA: polyamide) from BASF’s product range.
Ludwigshafen, Germany – November 20, 2008 – The definitive final result for BASF’s [BAS, BFA, AN] public tender offer to shareholders of Ciba Holding AG [CIBN], Basel, Switzerland, is available. Up to the end of the offer period, a total of 53,376,268 Ciba shares have been tendered to BASF. Together with the 1,011,536 Ciba shares that BASF held before the publication of the pre-announcement, the 9,021,802 Ciba shares that BASF bought from the Spanish investor group Bestinver outside the public tender offer and the 1,918,547 own shares held by Ciba, this results in a participation of 65,328,153 Ciba shares. This corresponds to 94.59 percent of all issued Ciba shares.
Ludwigshafen, Germany – November 19, 2008 – BASF is taking measures to avoid the creation of overcapacities as a result of a massive decline in demand. The company is temporarily shutting down around 80 plants worldwide. In addition, BASF is reducing production at approximately 100 plants. This was already announced for polystyrene and caprolactam. Scheduled maintenance work is being brought forward.
Ludwigshafen, Germany – November 17, 2008 – The additional acceptance period for BASF’s [BAS, BFA, AN] public tender offer to shareholders of Ciba Holding AG [CIBN], Basel, Switzerland, ended on November 14. During the offer period, a total of 53,350,051 Ciba shares have been tendered to BASF.
Ludwigshafen, Germany – November 12, 2008 – The Spanish investor group Bestinver has sold its stake of approximately 13 percent in Ciba Holding AG to BASF outside the public tender offer. The price per share is CHF 49.50. BASF will provide assurance to Ciba Holding AG that it will not exercise the voting rights attached to these shares before the settlement date.
BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Ludwigshafen, has invested in the US startup company NanoMas Technologies Inc. NanoMas develops inks containing silver nanoparticles that are easily processed to electrical circuits in printed electronics, solar cells and special adhesives.
Novy Urengoy. Today, on Wednesday, 12 November 2008, BASF and Russia’s OAO Gazprom officially launched natural gas production at the joint venture ZAO Achimgaz in Siberia. The German-Russian joint venture produces natural gas and condensate from the Achimov Formation, from which it also gets its name, in the Urengoy deposit.
The Polish company Wital has recently started using the styrene-based specialty plastic Luran® S 778T from the BASF range for protective road barrier reflectors. In doing so it has been able to replace the steel previously used for the mountings by a steel-gray colored variant of this acrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile polymer (ASA).
