FRANKFURT (Standard&Poor's) April 19, 2005--Standard&Poor's Rating Services said today that the announcement by Germany-based chemicals group BASF AG (AA-/Stable/A-1+) that it will buy back €1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) of its own shares in 2005 will not affect the rating on the company. BASF is currently benefiting from above-cycle cash flow generation and planned divestment proceeds, which will give the company a strong financial flexibility without deteriorating its credit profile in 2005. Therefore, we expect a further improvement in key credit protection ratios for the company in 2005, despite the share buyback. Nevertheless, the buyback would limit BASF's future financial flexibility to some extent. Since the beginning of 1999, BASF has already spent €4.25 billion on share
