Germany's BASF may be interested in buying US chemicals group Albemarle's lucrative refinery business for US$4.9 bln. Albemarle, which also focuses on polymer additives and fine chemicals, posted net profit of US$230 mln on net sales of US$2.3 bln last year. BASF has sold weak performing assets and trimmed highly cyclical businesses. It spent about Euro7 bln in 2006 to buy US catalyst maker Engelhard, the construction chemicals business of Degussa and US resin maker Johnson Polymer.
