BASF Opens North American Headquarters

BASF has opened a new 325,000-sq-ft North American headquarters building in Florham Park, N.J., to house 1,400 employees. The firm expects to receive Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the interior and exterior of the $130 million structure, which contains more than 30 construction chemical products from BASF. Separately, BASF plans to build a formic acid plant in Geismar, La., with an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons. The plant, expected to start up in the second quarter of 2014, will take advantage of plentiful and low-cost U.S. supplies of natural gas, according to Hans Engel, CEO of BASF Corp.