BASF Board of Executive Directors: New team as of 2008

Eggert Voscherau, Peter Oakley and Klaus Peter Löbbe to retire
Wolfgang Büchele and Harald Schwager appointed to the Board of Executive Directors
Chief Financial Officer Kurt Bock also appointed new Chairman and CEO of BASF Corporation
Board responsibilities reassigned for new legal form BASF SE

In its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Ludwigshafen, has appointed two new members to the Board of Executive Directors: Dr. Harald Schwager (47) and Dr. Wolfgang Büchele (48). The appointments will take effect on January 1, 2008. In addition, the contracts of two current members of the Board of Executive Directors – Dr. Kurt Bock (49) and Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer (52) – were extended until the Annual Meeting in 2012.

As a result of these changes, the Board of Executive Directors has decided to reassign responsibilities within the Board. Following the transformation of the German BASF Aktiengesellschaft into a European Company, Societas Europaea (BASF SE), these changes will be made stepwise until the Annual Meeting on April 24, 2008. Effective August 1, 2007, the Board of Executive Directors has appointed Chief Financial Officer Dr. Kurt Bock as Chairman and CEO of BASF Corporation in the United States in addition to his current duties.

The new appointments to the Board were necessary due to the retirement of three current members.

Eggert Voscherau (64), who has been a member of the Board of Executive Directors since 1996 and is its Vice Chairman as well as BASF’s Industrial Relations Director, will retire following the Annual Meeting on April 24, 2008.

Peter Oakley (54), a member of the Board of Executive Directors since 1998 and responsible for Agricultural Products & Nutrition, Specialty Chemicals Research and BASF Plant Science, will leave the company at his own request to pursue a new business opportunity following the transformation of BASF Aktiengesellschaft into BASF SE.

Klaus Peter Löbbe (61), who has been a member of the Board of Executive Directors since 2002 and is responsible for North America and the Catalysts division as well as being Chairman and CEO of BASF Corporation, Florham Park, New Jersey, will retire from BASF for health reasons, effective July 31, 2007. Chief Financial Officer Kurt Bock will assume Löbbe’s U.S.-based responsibilities in addition to his current duties.

Harald Schwager will succeed Voscherau. He is a chemist and has been Verbund Site Manager Ludwigshafen since February 2006. Schwager started work at BASF in 1988 in polypropylene catalyst research. After positions in technical service for polypropylene, and marketing and sales for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), he became head of the Polyvinyl Chloride business unit headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, as well as managing director of the European companies of Solvin S.A. in Brussels. In 2003, he was appointed head of BASF’s Inorganics division.

Wolfgang Büchele is also a chemist and has been responsible for the Fine Chemicals division since October 2005. He joined BASF as a researcher in 1987 and subsequently headed a research group for industrial catalysts. After working as head of regional marketing for catalysts in Asia and head of global marketing for cosmetics ingredients, he was made responsible for business management Fine Chemicals Europe. Büchele subsequently headed the Eastern Europe, Africa, West Asia regional division before being appointed head of the Performance Chemicals division in 2003. He is a member of the Verbund Site Executives Team in Ludwigshafen.



Outstanding foundation, excellent team
With the new appointments, the number of members of the Board of Executive Directors will be reduced from nine to eight. The responsibilities on the Board will be organized as follows and will be effective at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting on April 24, 2008:


Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht: Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors
Dr. Harald Schwager: Human Resources; Verbund Site Management Europe; Engineering; Environment, Safety & Energy
Dr. Kurt Bock: Chief Financial Officer; North America; Catalysts; Finance; Information Services
Dr. Martin Brudermüller: Plastics; Asia Pacific
Dr. Wolfgang Büchele: Oil & Gas; Europe; Global Procurement & Logistics
Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer: Research Executive Director; Chemicals; Chemicals Research & Engineering
Dr. Stefan Marcinowski: Agricultural Products & Nutrition; South America; Specialty Chemicals Research; BASF Plant Science GmbH.
Dr. John Feldmann: Performance Products; Polymer Research

“Our new colleagues on the Board add strength to an excellent team with ambitious plans,” said Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht. “In view of the transformation of BASF from a German Aktiengesellschaft into a European Company it is necessary to appoint the Board of Executive Directors as early as possible and involve the team members in the reorganization process. In recent years, we have laid an outstanding foundation on which to build our future success. I would like to thank my colleagues who are retiring for their exceptional achievements in increasing the value and reputation of BASF, and I wish all team members every success with their new responsibilities.”