BASF said to tap Deutsche Bank, Goldman for agrichemical listing

BASF SE has selected banks to help arrange the potential listing of its agricultural chemicals division, people familiar with the matter said, as the German manufacturer forges ahead with its broader revamp.

Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are working with BASF to prepare the unit for a listing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The agrichemical business could be worth more than €20 billion ($22 billion) in a listing, some of the people said. Global coordinators, which are responsible to underwrite the share sale, will be appointed later, the people said. The company has said it aims to complete separating the unit by 2027.

Deliberations are ongoing and more banks could be added later, the people said. Representatives for BASF, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

BASF has been considering listing the agrichemical business in the US, while Germany is also a venue under consideration for the business, Bloomberg News reported in February. The agrichemical unit makes crop protection products like herbicides and fungicides.

BASF Chief Executive Officer Markus Kamieth, who took over last April, has been reorienting the company to counter high energy prices and a decline in global demand, particularly in China, which has driven profit growth across industries in recent decades. In September, Kamieth announced new measures including preparing the agricultural unit for a possible listing and a sale of its decorative paint business in Brazil.

In February, BASF agreed to sell the Brazilian paints unit to Sherwin-Williams Co. for $1.15 billion. The company is also preparing the sale of a separate coatings business.