BASF plans to go public with its agricultural division in 2027

BASF wants to list its agricultural business on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2027. The division could be worth between 20 and 30 billion euros. Deutsche Bank is also represented in the consortium.

Munich. The chemical company BASF is pushing ahead with plans for the billion-dollar IPO of its agricultural business. The group has commissioned four banks to prepare. These include the US investment banks Citi, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as well as Deutsche Bank, as BASF announced on Monday.

The initial public offering (IPO) is scheduled to take place in Frankfurt next year. The BASF Agricultural Solutions division should be ready for the step by mid-2027 at the latest. The group wants to retain the majority of the shares and can thus continue to fully book the profits of the profitable business within the group.

It could be one of the most important IPOs on the Frankfurt securities market in years. As the Handelsblatt exclusively reported at the beginning of July, a valuation of between 20 and 30 billion euros is expected in financial and corporate circles. “We expect a mega deal,” said an insider.

However, a decision on the exact timing of the issue has not yet been made, BASF emphasized. Whether the agricultural unit will be listed on the stock exchange in the first half of 2027 depends on the capital market environment. Banks are usually selected about six months before the initial listing. An IPO in the second quarter would therefore be a possible date.

CEO Markus Kamieth announced the plans for the transaction when presenting his new strategy in autumn 2024. His goal is to highlight the actual value of the agricultural division, which was traditionally integrated into the BASF group.

Kamieth wants BASF to focus more closely on the group's core businesses with several spin-offs. Their production is closely linked and brings synergies. Divisions that no longer fit into this control logic will be reorganized independently and strategically.

In a first step, the group separated from the majority of its paint business. The US financial investor Carlyle has taken over 60 percent of the shares in the former BASF Coatings; BASF continues to hold 40 percent of the newly founded company Surventis. As a result of the sale, the chemical company will receive 5.8 billion euros before taxes.

The partial IPO of the agricultural business should be the next big step. It is still unclear how much revenue BASF will generate. The group wants to use the capital from the various transactions to reduce its debt and strengthen the newly defined Verbund business - consisting of basic chemicals, plastics, performance additives and ingredients for food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

The agricultural division with seeds and plant protection products is one of the pearls in the Ludwigshafen-based company's portfolio. In 2025 it had sales of around ten billion euros. The adjusted profit was two billion euros, which is almost a third of the consolidated profit.

At the same time, the division is by far the largest cash supplier in the group. The balance of cash inflows and outflows was 1.5 billion euros in 2025 - which corresponded to around half of the total cash flow of the five BASF segments.

BASF plans to present the division at a capital market day on November 24th. The legal and operational separation of the division is proceeding according to plan, the statement said.