BASF SE
"We create chemistry"
Ludwigshafen chemical group (XETRA: BAS) whose herbicide-led Agricultural Solutions unit (EUR 9.6bn 2025 sales) is being readied for a Frankfurt IPO.
BASF SE is a German chemical company headquartered at Carl-Bosch-Strasse 38 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. Friedrich Engelhorn founded it on April 6, 1865 as Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik. BASF SE is registered with the Ludwigshafen District Court under HRB 6000. Its shares trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange/XETRA under the symbol BAS and are part of the DAX. Markus Kamieth has been Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors since 2024. In 2025 BASF Group reported sales of EUR 59.7 billion (down from EUR 61.4 billion in 2024), EBITDA before special items of EUR 6.6 billion, and 108,251 employees at year-end.
BASF's portfolio spans chemicals, materials, industrial solutions, nutrition and care products and agriculture, and is anchored by integrated 'Verbund' production sites, the largest of which is in Ludwigshafen. The company uses the brand line 'We create chemistry'.
BASF's agriculture business is its Agricultural Solutions segment, which sells seeds and traits, seed treatment, and chemical and biological crop protection products, including herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, as well as digital farming tools. In 2025 it reported sales of EUR 9.587 billion, down 2.2% year on year, and EBITDA before special items of EUR 2.081 billion, a 21.7% margin. Herbicides were the largest product line at EUR 3.059 billion, followed by fungicides (EUR 2.838 billion), seeds and traits (EUR 2.026 billion), insecticides (EUR 1.089 billion) and seed treatment (EUR 575 million). BASF cited the market launch of glufosinate-P-ammonium herbicide as a 2025 volume driver, particularly in North America. R&D spending in the segment was about EUR 990 million in 2025. BASF opened a crop protection technology center in Limburgerhof, Germany, in 2016. The segment's strength in herbicides links it to camera-guided spot spraying and robotic weeding, which are designed to cut the amount of herbicide applied to fields.
BASF is preparing to partly separate the agriculture business. In 2025 it announced plans to list Agricultural Solutions on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as a stand-alone Societas Europaea, with IPO readiness targeted for 2027 and BASF remaining the majority shareholder. Livio Tedeschi heads the business, which has had its own four-member management board since May 1, 2026. On September 14, 2026 BASF appointed Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan as global coordinators for the IPO preparations. It said about 80% of the global business had already moved into separate legal entities on a new ERP system, and that no final decision on carrying out the IPO had yet been taken.
BASF's digital farming activities include the xarvio platform for agronomic recommendations. Through BASF Digital Farming it formed a 50/50 joint venture with Robert Bosch GmbH in 2021, renamed ONE SMART SPRAY in April 2023 and based in Cologne. The joint venture sells a camera-based system that detects weeds within milliseconds and sprays only where needed, combined with xarvio agronomic recommendations. It is integrated into sprayers from equipment partners including AGCO, Amazone, Dammann and Stara and is offered in Europe and North and South America.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact BASF SE
WEBSITE
https://www.basf.com/global/enPHONE
+49 621 60-0HEADQUARTERS
Germany
Company Facts
Founded
1865
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Europe
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Public
Funding Total
-
