FRANKFURT, Germany -- The Supervisory Board of BASF Aktiengesellschaft has appointed Dr. Jurgen Hambrecht to succeed Dr. Jurgen F. Strube as chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF Aktiengesellschaft. Eggert Voscherau will become deputy chairman. These appointments will become effective at the end of the annual meeting on May 6, 2003.

"With Jurgen Hambrecht, an internationally experienced and dynamic entrepreneur will take over the leadership of BASF. In doing this, BASF's management leadership team will build on the great success of the Strube era," said Prof. Dr. Berthold Leibinger, chairman of the supervisory board of BASF Aktiengesellschaft.

BASF offers a range of high-performance products, including adhesives raw materials and other chemicals, plastics, coatings systems, dispersions, agricultural products, and fine chemicals, as well as crude oil and natural gas. For more information, visit www.basf.com.