Financing

We have solid financing, both for ongoing business and for investment projects initiated or planned. Corporate bonds form the basis of our medium to long-term debt financing. These are issued in euros and other currencies with different maturities as part of our €20 billion debt issuance program. The goal is to create a balanced maturity profile, diversify our financing and optimize our debt capital financing conditions.

For short-term financing, we use BASF SE’s global commercial paper program, which has an issuing volume of up to $12.5 billion. As of December 31, 2023, no commercial paper was outstanding under this program. A firmly committed, syndicated credit line of €6 billion with a term until 2026 covers the repayment of outstanding commercial paper. It can also be used for general company purposes. The credit line was not used at any point in 2023. In 2023, BASF Integrated Site (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., China, signed a syndicated bank term loan facility totaling 40 billion Chinese renminbi with a maturity of 15 years for the construction of the Verbund site in Zhanjiang. Of this amount, 1 billion Chinese renminbi (€127 million) was utilized as of December 31, 2023. Our external financing is therefore largely independent of short-term fluctuations in the credit markets.

BASF Group’s most important financial contracts contain no side agreements with regard to specific financial ratios (financial covenants) or compliance with a specific rating (rating trigger). To minimize risks and leverage internal optimization potential within the Group, we bundle the financing, financial investments and foreign currency hedging of BASF SE’s subsidiaries within the BASF Group where possible. Foreign currency risks are primarily hedged centrally using derivative financial instruments in the market.