BASF agrees to sell silicates business to PQ

BASF has agreed to sell its silicates business, including a plant in Düsseldorf, Germany, to PQ for an undisclosed sum. BASF says the planned sale follows a strategic reassessment of its Care Chemicals division. PQ, formerly Philadelphia Quartz, has been manufacturing silicates since 1861. The company adopted its current form in 2021, when Cerberus Capital Management and Koch Industries took the silicates business private in a $1.1 billion transaction. Today PQ operates 30 plants around the world and has annual sales of about $800 million.