Carve out: BASF’s optical brighteners division goes to Catexel

Ludwigs­ha­fen, Germany — BASF and Cate­xel have signed an agree­ment on the sale of BASF’s opti­cal brigh­ten­ers busi­ness. Opti­cal brigh­ten­ers are ingre­di­ents in deter­gent formu­la­ti­ons. The busi­ness is curr­ently part of BASF’s Care Chemi­cals divi­sion. Finan­cial details of the tran­sac­tion will not be disc­lo­sed. Proven­tis Part­ners advi­sed BASF on the sale of the opti­cal brigh­ten­ers busi­ness to Cate­xel. — The tran­sac­tion is expec­ted to close in the first quar­ter of 2026. 

The tran­sac­tion compri­ses the inter­na­tio­nal busi­ness inclu­ding the produc­tion of opti­cal brigh­ten­ers at the Monthey site in Switz­er­land and around 80 employees.

This dive­st­ment contri­bu­tes to BASF’s stra­te­gic trans­for­ma­tion. “As part of our ‘Winning Ways’ stra­tegy, we are actively mana­ging our port­fo­lio and driving prio­ri­tiza­tion. With Cate­xel, a commit­ted, focu­sed new owner will further deve­lop the busi­ness to realize its poten­tial,” said Mary Kurian, Presi­dent Care Chemicals. 

Cate­xel is the Care Chemi­cals plat­form of the Inter­na­tio­nal Chemi­cal Inves­tors Group (ICIG) and specia­li­zes in high-quality specialty chemi­cals for deter­gents and clea­ning agents, perso­nal care products and indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. With the acqui­si­tion of the opti­cal brigh­te­ner busi­ness and produc­tion, Cate­xel is sending a clear stra­te­gic signal: the company is expan­ding its port­fo­lio to offer its custo­mers an even broa­der range of high-quality ingre­di­ents for deter­gents and to further streng­then its posi­tion as a relia­ble part­ner in the market. 

Dr. Alex­an­der Snell, Presi­dent and CEO of Cate­xel, explains: “This acqui­si­tion is another mile­stone for Cate­xel. With the state-of-the-art produc­tion faci­lity and the expe­ri­en­ced team in Switz­er­land, we are laying the foun­da­tion for further growth and inno­va­tion. This streng­thens our posi­tion as a relia­ble part­ner for our custo­mers and drives our stra­te­gic direc­tion forward.”

BASF remains one of the leading suppli­ers and inno­va­tors of ingre­di­ents for the home care, indus­trial and insti­tu­tio­nal clea­ning markets.

The role of Proven­tis Partners

Proven­tis Part­ners acted as exclu­sive M&A advi­sor to BASF throug­hout the entire sales process. The advi­sory services included the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of poten­tial buyers, the prepa­ra­tion of marke­ting mate­ri­als, the coor­di­na­tion of due dili­gence, discus­sions and nego­tia­ti­ons with poten­tial buyers as well as the struc­tu­ring of the tran­sac­tion. The tran­sac­tion team of Proven­tis Part­ners consis­ted of Dr. Jan-Phil­ipp (JP) Pfander (Part­ner, Zurich), Artur Maibach (Vice Presi­dent, Zurich) and Daniel Büti­ko­fer (Analyst, Zurich). 

About Cate­xel

Cate­xel is a leading global manu­fac­tu­rer of deter­gent addi­ti­ves with sites in Germany, the USA and the Nether­lands. With 220 employees world­wide, Cate­xel deve­lops, produ­ces and distri­bu­tes specialty chemi­cals for deter­gents and clea­ning agents, perso­nal care products and indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. Cate­xel is part of the Inter­na­tio­nal Chemi­cal Inves­tors Group (ICIG). — www.catexel.com.

About ICIG

The Inter­na­tio­nal Chemi­cal Inves­tors Group is a private indus­trial group with a total turno­ver of over 4 billion euros. ICIG focu­ses on seve­ral main plat­forms: Fine Chemi­cals under the Weyl­Chem brand, Care Chemi­cals (Cate­xel), Chlo­ro­vi­nyl Products (Vynova), Compounds (Benvic), Hydro­car­bons and Solvents (HCS Group), Super­ab­sorb­ents (Stock­hausen Super­ab­sorb­ents), as well as compa­nies specia­li­zing in indus­trial drying services, fermen­ta­tion products, viscose fila­ments, acti­va­ted carbon and wood protec­tion chemi­cals. Today, the ICIG compa­nies employ more than 7,150 people and operate over 50 produc­tion faci­li­ties in Europe, the USA and India. — www.ic-investors.com

About BASF’s Care Chemi­cals division

BASF’s Care Chemi­cals divi­sion offers a wide range of ingre­di­ents for perso­nal care, house­hold care, indus­trial and insti­tu­tio­nal clea­ning and tech­ni­cal appli­ca­ti­ons. We are a leading global supplier to the cosme­tics indus­try as well as the deter­gents and clea­ners indus­try and support our custo­mers with inno­va­tive and sustainable products, solu­ti­ons and concepts. The divi­si­on’s high-perfor­­mance product port­fo­lio includes surfac­tants, emul­si­fiers, poly­mers, plas­ti­ci­zers, chela­ting agents, cosme­tic active ingre­di­ents and UV filters. We have produc­tion and deve­lo­p­ment sites in all regi­ons and are expan­ding our presence in emer­ging markets. — www.care-chemicals.basf.com

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemis­try for a sustainable future. Our goal is to be the prefer­red chemi­cal company that enables the green trans­for­ma­tion for our custo­mers. We combine econo­mic success with envi­ron­men­tal protec­tion and social respon­si­bi­lity. Around 112,000 BASF Group employees contri­bute to the success of our custo­mers in almost all indus­tries and almost every coun­try in the world. Our port­fo­lio compri­ses the core busi­nesses Chemi­cals, Mate­ri­als, Indus­trial Solu­ti­ons and Nutri­tion & Care; our inde­pen­dent busi­nesses are combi­ned in the Surface Tech­no­lo­gies and Agri­cul­tu­ral Solu­ti­ons segments. BASF achie­ved sales of €65.3 billion in 2024. BASF shares are traded on the Frank­furt Stock Exch­ange (BAS) and as Ameri­can Depo­si­tary Receipts (BASFY) in the United States. — www.basf.com.

About Proven­tis Partners

Proven­tis Part­ners is a part­­ner-mana­­ged M&A advi­sory firm whose clients prima­rily include medium-sized family busi­nesses, corpo­rate groups and private equity funds. With 30 M&A experts, Proven­tis Part­ners is one of the largest inde­pen­dent M&A advi­sory firms in the German-spea­king region and has more than 20 years of expe­ri­ence and over 430 successfully comple­ted transactions. 

With offices in Frank­furt, Hamburg and Zurich, the M&A advi­sors are active in the indus­trial, chemi­cals and mate­ri­als, services, tech­no­logy and media, consu­mer goods and retail and health­care sectors. Through its exclu­sive member­ship of the Mergers Alli­ance — an inter­na­tio­nal part­ner­ship of leading M&A specia­lists — Proven­tis Part­ners is able to support clients in 30 count­ries in the worl­d’s most important markets. The members of the Mergers Alli­ance, with more than 250 M&A profes­sio­nals, provide Proven­tis Part­ners and its clients with unique access to local markets in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa. — www.proventis.com