At the company’s annual meeting on April 26, the board of executive directors and supervisory board of Germany-based BASF Aktiengesellschaft will propose changing BASF into a European company (Societas Europaea, SE) with the name BASF SE. The company’s headquarters and chief administrative offices will remain in Ludwigshafen.

Commenting on the proposal chairman of the board, Dr Jürgen Hambrecht, said, “The European Company is a modern legal form for a global company whose home market is in Europe,” adding, “BASF considers this legal form to be an affirmation of an entrepreneurial vision of Europe.”

In 2006, BASF posted approximately 60% of its sales in Europe and employed around two-thirds of its global workforce of more than 95,000 employees in the region.