FAQ

The next Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 29, 2021.

The Annual Shareholders' Meeting starts at 10 a.m. CEST on April 29, 2021 as virtual event.

The speech of the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE will be broadcast live online and will be accessible to all at www.basf.com/generalmeeting.

For all shareholders, a live video and audio broadcast of the entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will be transmitted via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service. Access data (shareholder number and password) will be sent with the invitation to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting at the beginning of April.

Due to the spread of the coronavirus BASF’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will take place on April 29, 2021 as an entirely virtual shareholders’ meeting without the presence of shareholders. Further information is available on our website.

The speech of the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE will be broadcast live online and will be accessible to all at www.basf.com/generalmeeting.

For all shareholders, a live video and audio broadcast of the entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will be transmitted via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service. Access data (shareholder number and password) will be sent with the invitation to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting at the beginning of April.

For all shareholders, a live video and audio broadcast of the entire Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will be transmitted via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service on April 29, 2021, starting at 10:00 a.m. CEST. The speech of the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors will be broadcast live online on April 29, 2021, and will be accessible to all at www.basf.com/generalmeeting.

The speech of the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors (live and replay) is available on our website at www.basf.com/generalmeeting for two years.

If you have any questions regarding the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, please contact our Shareholder Hotline on +49 (621) 60-99888 (Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm CEST) or send an e-mail to hv-service@basf.com.

Information material can be ordered online.

The only shareholders who are entitled to exercise shareholder rights are those who have registered for the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in due time and who are entered in the share register for the registered shares. For purpose of determining attendance and voting rights, the shares recorded in the share register at the end of the last registration day (April 22, 2021) are decisive.

The only shareholders who are entitled – personally or through proxies – to exercise shareholder rights, including voting rights and the right to ask questions, are those who have registered for the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on April 29, 2021, with the Board of Executive Directors of the company no later than Thursday, April 22, 2021, either at the following address

Hauptversammlung BASF SE
c/o ADEUS Aktienregister-Service-GmbH
20784 Hamburg
Germany
Fax: +49 89 2070 37951
Email: hv-service@basf.com

or online according to the procedure laid down by the company at

www.basf.com/agm-service

and who are entered in the share register for the registered shares. For purposes of determining attendance and voting rights, the shares recorded in the share register at the end of April 22, 2021, are decisive.

Shareholders who would like to register online will require their shareholder number and the corresponding access password. Those shareholders who have registered to receive the notice convening the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting by email receive their shareholder number with the email notice convening the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting and must use the access password they chose at registration. All other shareholders entered in the share register receive their shareholder number and their access password by post with the written notice convening the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

If an intermediary is registered in the share register, it can only exercise the voting rights for shares that do not belong to it by virtue of a proxy issued by the shareholder.

Applications for share transfers in the share register that are received by the company after the end of April 22, 2021 (Technical Record Date) up to the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on April 29, 2021 will be executed in the company’s share register and take effect only after the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on April 29, 2021.

Owners of American Depositary Shares (ADS) receive the documents for the issue of a proxy from the Bank of New York Mellon (Depositary).

The shares are not blocked by registration for the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting; shareholders therefore remain free to dispose of their shares even after registration.

Absentee voting

Shareholders can cast their votes in writing or by way of electronic communication, without attending the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting (“absentee voting”). To exercise voting rights, shareholders must register for the virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting prior to midnight (CEST) on April 22, 2021.

Electronic absentee voting takes place via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service using the online form provided there. Electronic absentee voting, including changes to votes, is possible via the online service until the close of voting. The close of voting will be determined by the chair of the meeting at a point in time after the Board of Executive Directors has finished answering questions and will be announced in the video and audio broadcast.

If votes are cast via postal absentee voting, the votes must be received by April 28, 2021, (date of receipt) at the following address:

Hauptversammlung BASF SE
c/o ADEUS Aktienregister-Service-GmbH
20784 Hamburg
Germany
Fax: +49  89 2070 37951
Email: hv-service@basf.com

If votes are cast via postal absentee voting, the shareholder has the possibility to change votes even after the abovementioned deadline by using the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service until the close of voting during the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

To revoke votes cast by postal absentee voting, the abovementioned provisions relating to the possibilities for transmission and the deadlines apply accordingly. If a shareholder has already voted via postal absentee voting but would instead like to have his or her voting rights exercised by a representative during the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, this is possible but will revoke the votes cast via postal absentee voting.

Authorized intermediaries, associations of shareholders and proxy advisors in accordance with Section 134(a) of the German Stock Corporation Act as well as persons who have equal status to these in accordance with Section 135(8) of the German Stock Corporation Act are also entitled to utilize postal absentee voting.

Voting by company-appointed proxy

Shareholders can be represented at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting by proxies appointed by the company. The proxies can be authorized in text form or via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service. Issuing proxies and providing instructions to the proxies, including changes to instructions, are possible via the online service at www.basf.com/ agm-service until the close of voting. Please note that, in this case as well, registration must be carried out prior to midnight (CEST) on April 22, 2021. Beatriz Rosa Malavé and Annette Buchen have been appointed proxies with the sole right of representation. The proxies exercise the voting right solely on the basis of the instructions issued by the shareholder. In the event that an individual vote takes place on an Item of the Agenda, any instruction issued for this purpose will apply to each individual sub-item accordingly. Please note that the proxies appointed by the company will not accept any instructions to speak, file opposition to resolutions by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, ask questions or put forward motions on behalf of the shareholder.

Voting by a proxy holder

In addition to postal absentee voting and voting by proxy, shareholders can have their voting rights exercised by an authorized representative, for example, an intermediary, an association of shareholders or a proxy advisor. In this case as well, the shareholder or the authorized representative must ensure that registration is carried out prior to midnight (CEST) on April 22, 2021.

In the case of an authorization of an intermediary, an association of shareholders, a proxy advisor, or any other person specified in Section 135 (8) of the German Stock Corporation Act, the form of authorization is governed by the appropriate offer for exercising the voting right.

Authorized representatives may likewise exercise voting rights at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting only by postal absentee voting or by authorizing the companyappointed proxies.

A proxy, its revocation, and evidence of the authorization vis-a-vis the company can be sent to the company until April 28, 2021 (date of receipt), to the following address:

Hauptversammlung BASF SE
c/o ADEUS Aktienregister-Service-GmbH
0784 Hamburg
Germany
Fax: +49 89 2070 37951
Email: hv-service@basf.com

Proxies can also be authorized online according to the procedure laid down by the company at www.basf.com/ agm-service until the close of voting.

Those intermediaries, associations of shareholders, and proxy advisors that participate in the company’s online service can also be authorized online according to the procedure laid down by the company via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service.

The shareholders registered for the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting are granted an opportunity to ask questions via electronic means of communications in accordance with Article 2 Section 1(2) sentence 1 No. 3 and sentence 2 of the COVID-19 Act in combination with Article 11 No. 1 a) and b) of the COVID-19 Amending Act. In this regard, the Board of Executive Directors, with the agreement of the Supervisory Board, has established that questions may be submitted via electronic means of communication from 9:00 a.m. (CEST) on April 12, 2021, until one day prior to the meeting, i.e., until midnight (CEST) on April 27, 2021. Follow-up questions are not possible at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

According to Article 2 Section 1(2) sentence 2 of the COVID-19 Act in combination with Article 11 No. 1 a) and b) of the COVID-19 Amending Act, the Board of Executive Directors can decide at its due and free discretion how it answers questions. The Board of Executive Directors therefore reserves the right, in particular, to answer submitted questions individually or an amalgamation of several questions at once as well as to determine the order in which questions are answered in the interests of all shareholders. Questions in languages other than German will not be considered.

Questions must relate to company matters, the company’s legal and business relations with associated companies or the situation of the Group and the companies included in the Consolidated Financial Statements, provided that this information is required for the factual assessment of an Item of the Agenda.

When answering questions, the Board of Executive Directors reserves the right to disclose the name of the questioner, provided the questioner did not explicitly object to being identified by name. More information about data protection can be found at www.basf.com/generalmeeting.

Shareholders registered for the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting can submit their questions to the company electronically via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service using the online form provided there. The online form to submit a question will be activated from 9:00 a.m. (CEST) on April 12, 2021, until midnight (CEST) on April 27, 2021.

Countermotions with reasons against a proposal by the Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board on a specific Item of the Agenda and electoral proposals for the election of members of the Supervisory Board or auditors must be sent to the following address only. Countermotions and electoral proposals sent to other addresses will not be taken into consideration.

BASF SE
CL/G – D 100
67056 Ludwigshafen
Germany
Fax: +49 621 60-6643693
or +49 621 60-6647843
Email: hv2021@basf.com

Countermotions and electoral proposals that are to be made accessible according to the German Stock Corporation Act and are received up to the end of April 14, 2021, at the above address with evidence of shareholder status will be published promptly on the internet at www.basf.com/generalmeeting. Any replies from management will also be published at the above internet address.

Under Article 2 Section 1(2) sentence 2 of the COVID-19 Act in combination with Article 11 No. 1 b) of the COVID-19 Amending Act, the countermotions published in this way are considered as put forward verbally at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting if the shareholder making the countermotion or electoral proposal is properly legitimized and registered for the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting and the countermotions will be treated accordingly by the company. This does not affect the right of the meeting chair to first hold votes on the proposals put forward by management.

Countermotions and electoral proposals that are to be made accessible according to the German Stock Corporation Act will be published promptly on the internet at www.basf.com/generalmeeting. Any replies from management will also be published at the above internet address.

Via the online service at www.basf.com/agm-service you may access your data in the share register as well as update or amend your postal address.

The dividend will be paid out on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, i.e. on the third working day after the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

The ex-dividend day is Friday, April 30, 2021, i.e. the first working day after the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. This is the day on which the shares will be traded on the stock exchange without dividend entitlement for the first time.