BASF Moves Ahead On Engelhard

BASF pressed ahead with its spurned $4.9 billion acquisition of Engelhard by nominating two candidates for election to Engelhard's board and appointing a corporate champion to lead BASF's takeover attempt.

BASF nominated Julian A. Brodsky, vice chairman of communications firm Comcast Corp., and John C. Linehan, former chief financial officer of Kerr-McGee, to stand for election at the Engelhard annual meeting on May 4. BASF Chairman Jürgen Hambrecht says the two will "seek to maximize value for Engelhard's stockholders."

To underscore the seriousness of its takeover attempt, BASF said that Hans-Ulrich Engel has relinquished duties as chief financial officer of BASF Corp. to focus on managing BASF's effort to acquire the U.S. catalysts and pigments maker.

For its part, Engelhard continued to urge stockholders to "take no action at this time," and allow the firm to follow up with its own plan to "deliver higher value to stockholders."

Separately, the acquisitive BASF submitted, as expected, a binding offer for the building chemicals business of Degussa. BASF won't say how much the bid is for, but a spokesman confirms that one has been made.