Image: Wintershall DEA (file photo)
BASF said it has halted efforts to list its Wintershall Dea oil and gas business separately via an initial public offering (IPO) because of the joint venture’s involvement in Russia.
“We want to take the company public. Wintershall Dea has interests in production facilities in Russia. That makes an IPO difficult at this point in time,” said CEO Martin Brudermüller in a speech to the shareholders at the chemical company’s Annual General Meeting.
Nothing has changed in the fundamental decision to withdraw from the oil and gas business, he added.
The speech marks a reversal from February, when BASF said it was ready to push through an IPO even as markets were rocked by Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Read the full story
BASF argued about the timing of the IPO with Wintershall Dea’s co-investor LetterOne, who had initially spoken out against an IPO.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss, editing by Paul Carrel)
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