The sale of BASF's coatings business is nearing completion

German chemical giant BASF is planning to sell its coatings business to the US private equity giant Carlyle Group. The transaction valuation has reportedly reached €7 billion (approximately $8.17 billion), exceeding the previous market estimate of €6 billion (approximately $7 billion). If the transaction is completed, BASF will fully exit its long-standing coatings business, a key step in the company's business restructuring strategy.

Between May and June 2025, BASF hired Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase as financial advisors and distributed information memoranda to potential buyers worldwide, officially launching the bidding process. BASF has shortlisted the next round of bidders and has requested final bids in August. Market sources indicate the valuation could exceed €6 billion.

BASF's coatings business is reportedly large, with over 10,300 employees, focusing on three core areas: automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) coatings, automotive refinish coatings, decorative coatings, and surface treatment. As one of the world's largest suppliers of automotive original equipment coatings, it provides numerous automakers with coating solutions for new vehicle production lines. Its decorative coatings and surface treatment business encompasses coatings for industrial applications and metal pretreatment products. In 2024, this division's sales reached €4.28 billion (approximately US$4.4808 billion or RMB 32.21 billion), a 2.4% year-on-year decrease. However, this division still accounted for 6.6% of BASF Group's total sales, making it a key business unit.