BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) has completed its acquisition of Ciba (Basel / Switzerland; www.cibasc.com) and now holds 95.8% of shares in the speciality chemicals producer. It became clear in November 2008 that the bid had been successful – see Plasteurope.com of 24.11.2008. BASF board member Hans-Ulrich Engel has been appointed chairman of Ciba’s board of directors, other members of the board are Hans-Walther Reiners and Jörg Buchmüller. All three BASF managers were elected at an extraordinary meeting of Ciba shareholders held in Basel in December 2008. All former members of Ciba’s board have resigned.

Ciba will be fully integrated into the BASF group, beginning with what BASF has dubbed a “discovery phase”. During this, joint teams of BASF and Ciba employees will analyse the acquired businesses to define a market position for the combined businesses and an optimal organisational structure. The actual integration process will start in July 2009 on the basis of these results.