, Columnist
BASF's Prudence Pays Off
It bided its time until it found a target at a reasonable price.
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BASF finally found its "big" deal.
The world's biggest chemical maker has been conspicuously absent from the industry's rush of mergers, but not for lack of trying. BASF has reportedly considered buying everything from giants like DuPont, Syngenta and Monsanto to a business that Air Products was divesting, only to stay on the sidelines. The German company's position as a sort of last man standing has given way to near constant will-they-or-won't-they speculation. Friday brought the big reveal of its largest acquisition in six years and the winner is...Albemarle's surface-treatment business, Chemetall.