International.
As part of its periodic portfolio review, BASF announced that it is reorienting its research portfolio from the biotechnology plant and will restructure its science operations plant.
The company will adjust its headquarters footprint from its biotechnology research and development network in North America and Europe and intends to reduce approximately 350 positions, of which 140 positions are in North America and 180 in Europe. Currently approximately 700 employees work in the biotechnology R&D plant.
The company reported that research and field centers in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Ames, Iowa; Berlin and Limburgerhof, Germany; Ghent, Belgium; and Brazil will remain, but it is planned to reduce in size. While field test centers in Kekaha, Hawaii, as well as headquarters in India and Puerto Rico will be closed. The restructuring is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
"We are confident that thanks to the reorientation of our biotechnology portfolio, we will make it possible for BASF to take the most promising research projects to success. We are going to suspend projects with very high technical challenges, which would require considerable time and financial investment," said Dr. Harald Schwager, member of BASF's Board of Executive Directors, responsible for Bioscience Research.
