BASE, Ciba integration to cost $1.5B

BASF SE, the chemical group that bought the former Ciba Holding AG earlier this year, said it will cost some $1.48 billion to integrate the two operations. The German company plans to cut 40 percent of Ciba workers it inherited and sell or close 23 of 55 former Ciba plants worldwide. The former Ciba plant in McIntosh, Ala., is not one of the 23 plants to be closed or sold. It has 492 employees. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/31/09)