BASF, the world's largest chemical maker by sales, said it was still having a hard time finding suitable targets in Asia, its biggest growth market. The companies BASF has taken over in recent years were largely based in Europe and the United States. The following is a list of its biggest deals since 2005:

November 2010 - agrees to transfer parts of its styrenics business into a joint venture with British unlisted peer Ineos. The Styrolution venture, 50% owned by BASF, will have annual sales of more than €5 billion. BASF stands to receive an unspecified cash amount as part of the deal. Styrenics are standard plastics used for casings and packaging.

December 2010 - buys Cognis, a maker of additives for household products, for 3.1 billion ($4.16 billion) including debt, to make its business less cyclical. (Announced June 2010).

April 2009 - acquires Swiss rival Ciba for €3.8 billion including debt and an equity value of €2.2 billion, making BASF the largest maker of additives for plastics and one of the biggest suppliers of paper chemicals. (Announced Sept. 2008)

February 2009 - says is mulling the sale of its leather and textile chemicals business.

December 2008 - acquires Norwegian oil and gas company Revus Energy ASA for €581 million. (Announced October 2008)

August 2008 - puts more styrenics businesses on the block, raising the annual revenue at the units that are for sale to €4 billion.

July 2008 - unveils initial plans to sell parts of its styrenics business.

July 2006 - acquires Germany's Degussa construction chemicals for €2.7 billion including debt and an equity value of €2.2 billion. (Announced March 2006)

July 2006 - acquires U.S. resins specialist Johnson Polymer for €379 million (Announced May 2006)

June 2006 - acquires Engelhard Corp., a U.S. maker of catalytic converters, for €3.8 billion (excl. debt), BASF's largest takeover at the time. (Announced Jan 2006)

Augugust 2005 - BASF and Shell sell their stakes in petrochemicals joint venture Basell for €4.4 billion to Access Industries and The Chatterjee Group.

April 2005 - acquires Merck KGaA's electronic chemicals business for €270 million.