BASF Buys Battery Electrolytes Maker

Continuing the expansion of its battery materials business, BASF has acquired Novolyte Technologies, a Cleveland-based maker of electrolytes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, from private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners and South Korean chemical producer Foosung. Separately, BASF has purchased Novolyte Performance Materials, a maker of aryl phosphines, from Arsenal. The total purchase price was in the low triple-digit millions of dollars, a BASF spokesman says. Arsenal bought Novolyte for $66 million from Ferro in 2008. A joint venture between BASF and Foosung will continue to build a LiPF₆ plant in Nantong, China. In February, BASF bought Ovonic Battery, a nickel-metal hydride battery technology licensor, and the lithium electrolytes and additives business of Germany’s Merck.