BASF and LANXESS have signed an agreement on BASF’s purchase of the polyisobutene business consisting mainly of intellectual property for a new, innovative technology to produce high molecular weight polyisobutene (HM PIB). On behalf of BASF, LANXESS will exclusively manufacture the new HM PIB for BASF in existing assets under a long term toll manufacturing agreement. BASF will market the products under the product name Oppanol® N.

“The acquired technology provides an excellent opportunity for BASF to jointly grow together with our customers. The transaction will result in enhanced security of HM PIB supply, and it provides the basis for a long term oriented sustainable growth with high quality products for a broad range of applications,“ said Martin Widmann, Senior Vice President of BASF’s global business unit Fuel and Lubricant Solutions. “We are determined to make a smooth transition to the products manufactured according to the newly developed HM PIB technology as an important part of our Oppanol® product portfolio. We will work closely with our customers to that effect.”

The transaction is related to HM PIB only; other PIB offerings by BASF including medium molecular weight PIB (MM PIB) and highly reactive PIB (HR PIB) will not be affected.

BASF has over seventy-five years of experience in the manufacturing of PIB and in understanding its properties. According to the company, BASF offers the broadest range of polyisobutenes worldwide with different molecular weights. Polyisobutenes play an important role in a wide variety of applications within miscellaneous industry segments.

The parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the agreement.

LANXESS, with sales of EUR 8.0 billion in 2014, has about 16,300 employees in 29 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.

BASF had sales of over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year.

The global business unit Fuel and Lubricant Solutions is a leading supplier to the automotive and mineral oil industries worldwide and part of BASF's Performance Chemicals division. Offerings cover fuel performance packages, refinery additives, polyisobutenes, engine coolants (Glysantin® brand) and brake fluids as well as lubricant additives, compounded lubricants, synthetic base stocks and components for metalworking fluids. The business unit has its main facilities in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Cincinnati and Florham Park in the USA, Nanjing and Shanghai in China, as well as Sao Paulo, Brazil. Research and development is mainly driven out of Ludwigshafen, Germany, Tarrytown, USA and Shanghai, China.