Business & Financial News | September 30, 2025

Media

Joint News Release
BASF and Louis Dreyfus Company Complete Sale and Purchase Transaction for BASF’s Food and Health Performance Ingredients Business

Illertissen, Germany, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, September 30, 2025 – BASF and Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) announced today the successful completion of the sale of BASF’s Food and Health Performance Ingredients Business, previously part of BASF’s Nutrition & Health division, to Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), following approval by the relevant authorities.

The transaction includes a production site in Illertissen, Germany, three application labs outside of Germany, as well as around 300 employees, who have transferred to LDC.

The business activities in scope of the transaction include:      

  • Food performance ingredients, such as whipping agents, emulsifiers and fat powders;
  • Health ingredients, including plant sterol esters, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 oils for human nutrition;
  • as well as several smaller product lines.

Through this strategic step, BASF aims to sharpen its portfolio and support growth in prioritized market segments in Nutrition & Health, while LDC expands its participation in the rapidly growing plant-based ingredients market.

“By focusing on vitamins and carotenoids, we are reinforcing our strategic direction toward vital nutrition ingredients for both human and animal nutrition,” emphasized Daniela Calleri, Senior Vice President Nutrition Ingredients at BASF. “We are committed to meeting market demand for high-quality ingredients and ensuring reliable supply for our customers worldwide.”

“This move is a significant milestone in LDC’s growth journey in the plant-based ingredients space, enhancing and accelerating our capacity to develop innovative solutions for food, personal care and healthcare applications,” said James Zhou, LDC’s Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Food & Feed Solutions. “We look forward to welcoming our new teams to the LDC family as we open this exciting new chapter for the Group and working together to create value for our customers around the world.”

Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction.

  

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. Our ambition: We want to be the preferred chemical company to enable our customers’ green transformation. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 112,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises, as core businesses, the segments Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, and Nutrition & Care; our standalone businesses are bundled in the segments Surface Technologies and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €65.3 billion in 2024. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the United States.

Further information at www.basf.com.

About BASF’s Nutrition & Health division

BASF Nutrition & Health provides a comprehensive product and service range for human and animal nutrition, pharmaceutical, and flavor & fragrance industries. With our science-driven portfolio, we address customers in globally growing markets to meet the demands of an expanding world population. Together with our customers, we play an active role in enhancing the nutrition, health and wellbeing of consumers all over the world. Our products fulfill the highest safety, regulatory and sustainability standards. BASF Nutrition & Health operates sites in Europe, North America and in Asia-Pacific.

For more information, go to www.basf.com.

Media contact for BASF: Christina Bode, christina.bode@basf.com   

About Louis Dreyfus Company 

Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods, founded in 1851. We leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers and consumers around the world, delivering the right products to the right location, at the right time - safely, reliably and responsibly. Our activities span the entire value chain, from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines (platforms): Coffee, Cotton, Food & Feed Solutions, Freight, Global Markets, Grains & Oilseeds, Juice, Rice and Sugar. We help feed and clothe some 500 million people every year by originating, processing and transporting approximately 95 million tons of products. Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries across six geographical regions, and employs approximately 19,000 people globally.

For more information, visit www.ldc.com and follow us on social media. 
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Media contact for LDC: media@ldc.com

  

P-25-188

Christina Bode
Communications GBU Nutrition Ingredients
Last UpdateSeptember 30, 2025