Organization of the BASF Group

Organization of the BASF Group

As of December 31, 2025, the BASF Group’s business comprised eleven operating divisions, which are grouped into six segments:

• Chemicals: Petrochemicals, Intermediates
• Materials: Performance Materials, Monomers
• Industrial Solutions: Dispersions & Resins, Performance Chemicals
• Nutrition & Care: Care Chemicals, Nutrition & Health
• Surface Technologies: Battery Materials, Environmental Catalyst and Metal Solutions (ECMS)
• Agricultural Solutions (the operating division shares the same name)

Until October 1, 2025, the Surface Technologies segment also included the Coatings division, which is no longer included in the BASF Group’s segment reporting due to the following two transactions:

• On October 10, 2025, BASF and Carlyle, Washington D.C., announced the signing of a binding transaction agreement relating to BASF’s automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinish coatings and surface treatment business units (“coatings”). Subject to approval from the relevant regulatory bodies, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. Owing to the planned divestiture, the affected business units are reported as discontinued operations in accordance with IFRS 5 as of September 30, 2025. From this date, the sales and earnings of the automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinish coatings and surface treatment business units are no longer part of the sales and EBIT(DA) before special items of the BASF Group and the Surface Technologies segment. Retroactively to January 1, 2025, and until the transaction closes, the income after taxes of these business units is presented in the income after taxes of BASF Group as a separate item (income after taxes from discontinued operations). The 2024 figures have been restated accordingly.
• On October 1, 2025, the sale of BASF’s Brazilian decorative paints business to Sherwin-Williams, Cleveland, Ohio, was completed following approval by the relevant competition authority. The decorative paints business was not affected by the aforementioned retroactive restatement and was the only business reported under Coatings in 2025.

• More information on material investments

Core businesses

Standalone businesses

BASF has continued to pursue a Differentiated Steering concept. Income from operations before depreciation, amortization and special items (EBITDA before special items) and free cash flow continue to be the most important financial key performance indicators for steering the BASF Group in the short to medium term. EBITDA before special items and segment cash flow are used as the most important key performance indicators for the segments. This enables us to provide a high level of transparency regarding the results of our segments. Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO₂ emissions remain the most important sustainability-related key performance indicator at Group level (for more information on the BASF Group’s steering concept, see Our Steering Concept).

BASF’s portfolio is managed in accordance with the strategy announced in September 2024. We differentiate between core businesses and standalone businesses, which operate independently. The core businesses comprise the Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions and Nutrition & Care segments. They benefit from their deep integration in value chains and in the Production Verbund. The standalone businesses comprise the Surface Technologies and Agricultural Solutions segments. These serve distinct industries and compete with peers who focus exclusively on individual industries. Our standalone businesses have greater flexibility and operational freedom, enabling them to react more swiftly and appropriately to specific market requirements.

The operating divisions, the service units, research and development and the Corporate Center are the cornerstones of the BASF organization. The operating divisions bear strategic and operational responsibility and are organized according to sectors or products.

Five service units provide competitive services for the BASF Group:

• European Site & Verbund Management
• Global Business Services (procurement, finance and controlling, in-house consulting services, intellectual property, communications, human resources, real estate, safety, supply chain)
• Global Digital Services
• Global Engineering Services
• Global Procurement

Our dedicated research and development units are integrated into the divisions, while activities with broad relevance for our businesses are bundled in a research division – Group Research. This division is globally positioned with research centers in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. With this setup, we are focusing our research activities on our customers and their industry-specific needs (for more information, see Innovation).

The Corporate Center supports the Board of Executive Directors in steering the company as a whole. This includes central tasks in the following areas: compliance and insurance; finance and controlling; health; corporate audit; investor relations; communications; human resources; legal, safety and quality; tax; strategy; environmental protection.

This setup lays the foundation for customer proximity, value creation, competitiveness and profitable growth.

Corporate legal structure

BASF SE, the BASF Group’s publicly listed parent company, plays a core role: Directly or indirectly, it holds the shares in the companies belonging to the BASF Group and is also one of the Group’s largest operating companies. A total of 274 companies including BASF SE are fully consolidated. Eight joint operations are accounted for pro rata, while 22 companies are accounted for using the equity method (for further information, see Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements).