Exclusive: Lone Star to enter exclusive talks to buy BASF's construction chemicals unit – sources

By Arno Schuetze

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – BASF (DE:) has picked Lone Star to exclusively negotiate the sale of its construction chemicals business to the buyout group, as the German chemicals company seeks to focus on more profitable operations, people close to the matter said.

The private equity firm vied with a consortium comprising buyout groups Cinven – which owns peer Chryso – and Bain for the world’s largest maker of chemical additives for concrete, they said.

A BASF spokesman confirmed it was now only talking with one bidder but declined to comment further.

Lone Star declined to comment.

Financial details of the potential deal have not emerged, but sources close to the matter have said in the past that they expect the unit to be valued at around 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion).

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