BASF Pursues Acquisition, Signs Confidentiality Agreement with Engelhard

In the interest of possibly acquiring Engelhard Corp., BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) has entered into a confidentiality agreement and extended its tender until April 14, 2006, in order to review non-public information provided by Engelhard. BASF was informed that as of March 15, 2006, a total of 767,913 shares of Engelhard common stock was tendered into the offer and not withdrawn.

As a consequence of the extension of the expiration date, holders of Engelhard common stock may tender their shares until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Friday, April 14, 2006, unless the offer is further extended.

In January 2006, BASF made an all-cash proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Engelhard Corp. for US$37.00 per share (US$4.9 billion). The board of directors of Engelhard Corp. announced a unanimous rejection of the unsolicited offer in February 2006, calling the offer ”opportunistic” and saying it undervalued Engelhard.