BASF establishes regional service centre in Malaysia

23/08/2005
German specialty chemical company, BASF, has established a regional service centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The new company, known as BASF Asia Pacific Service Centre Sdn Bhd, will provide support services in finance and accounting, information technology and systems, and human resources to BASF subsidiaries and affiliates in 15 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

BASF will invest over €21 million to set up the new operating unit, which will allow the company to standardise processes, leverage new technology, and establish services to support the rapid growth of BASF’s business in Asia Pacific.

The regional service centre presently employs more than 130 staff, including over 100 Malaysians. The centre will be fully operational by 2007, and will then employ about 400, mostly local people. BASF will invest more than €500,000 in recruiting and training staff for this office.

By integrating and centralising services that are currently provided on a local basis by more than 53 companies in the region, BASF will continue to establish a learning organisation in Asia. The service centre in Malaysia will increase our flexibility and strengthen our overall competitiveness,” said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board of executive directors of BASF. Malaysia was chosen as the location due to the availability of skilled staff with business and language skills – most importantly Chinese, Korean and Japanese – and its stable and competitive economic environment.”