BASF: Relocation of the industrial flooring business planned
BASF is planning to sell its CONICA Sports Surfaces business area. The intention is to divest the site at Schaffhausen (
“We have a strong position with CONICA Sports Surfaces in the European home market,” said Dr. Tilman Krauch, head of BASF’s Construction Chemicals Division. “However, growth opportunities for sports surfaces are mainly to be found outside of
The CONICA Sports Surfaces business area includes the development, production and marketing of surface systems for running tracks, gymnasia, tennis courts and playgrounds as well as solutions for artificial turf and molding binders. A little less than half of the Schaffhausen staff is employed in that business area. BASF acquired the business in 2006 in the course of its takeover of Degussa’s construction chemicals activities.
Other BASF products from Schaffhausen are mainly special flooring systems, in particular for public and industrial buildings, sealants and special polyurethane products. Their production will be reorganized in order to further boost the competitiveness of this business area.
“Our aim is to take advantage of synergies within BASF for our flooring systems and sealants business. Therefore we plan to relocate the production and production-related services to another BASF site close to our main customers,” explained Tilman Krauch.
The planned sale and transfer will be implemented in a socially responsible manner. The continued employment of employees from the CONICA Sports Surfaces unit is a matter for negotiation with potential purchasers. Those employees whose work is transferred to other BASF sites will be offered the opportunity to move with their job. For those employees whose jobs are eliminated, the possibility of offering further employment in the BASF Group will be examined. In the event of any redundancies, the existing redundancy program for BASF in
The head of Schaffhausen’s Department of Economic Affairs, Councilor Ernst Landolt, was informed of BASF’s intentions in advance. In the discussion, Councilor Landolt agreed to offer support by the economic development and employment office in order to ease the entry of potential purchasers, and wherever possible to cushion the impact of the planned changes.