BASF is reorganizing the set-up of its paper chemicals business. As of January 1, 2015, the Paper Chemicals division will be dissolved and its current headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, will be closed by the end of 2014. Overall, this means a reduction of about 50 positions.

The business will be continued in other divisions of the Performance Products segment. The wet-end chemicals and kaolin businesses will be integrated into the Performance Chemicals division, supplementing the polyacrylamide value chain. A new global business unit “Paper Chemicals” will be established within the Performance Chemicals division. BASF is evaluating strategic options for its paper hydrous kaolin business.
The paper dispersions business and the Center for Sustainable Paper Packaging (CSPP) will be integrated into the division Dispersions & Pigments, supplementing the latex dispersions value chain.
The company says that integrating the paper chemicals business along existing value chains will allow to optimally steer plant capacity and leverage the advantages of the BASF Verbund.

The reorganization will have no impact on supply security and service for the customers. Sales with paper chemicals were €1.44 billion in 2013.

BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany