Plans by BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) to divest its commodity styrenics business in the first half of 2008 ran afoul of price and financing considerations, managing board chairman Jürgen Hambrecht indicated at an investor presentation in London on 8 July – see Plasteurope.com of 25.02.2008. He pointed in particular to problems faced by potential buyers in obtaining financing for such mega deals in the wake of the global credit crunch. Lenders are now requiring borrowers to provide more own equity and interest rates also are on the rise, as he noted.

While remarking that not all companies are financially able to stem such an acquisition, Hambrecht denied that the asking price was too high. “We are not selling it under conditions which are not justifiable,” he said. Earlier this year, the BASF chief said the group was negotiating with only one potential partner and expressed confidence of a deal in the first half year.

The only company to have publicly acknowledged interest was Basell, before its merger with Lyondell into LyondellBasell (Rotterdam / The Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com). Hambrecht stressed that BASF will continue to pursue the divestment of the business, which was separated from the plastics division at the beginning of 2008 in a corporate reorganisation.