BASF U.S. PROFIT,TURNOVER BOOSTED BY ACQUISITIONS

  BASF AG &lt;BASF.F>
  said net profit of its U.S. Operating company, BASF Corp, rose
  last calendar year to 105 mln dlrs from 39 mln in 1985.
      Turnover rose by by more than one billion dlrs to 3.6
  billion, the parent company said in a statement. The rise,
  however, partly reflected the inclusion of the first full
  business year of three acquisitions made in 1985. Excluding
  these, BASF Corp turnover rose four pct from 1985.
      Acquisitions were the high-performance connecting materials
  operations of Celanese Corp, Inmont Corp bought from United
  Technologies and American Enka bought from AKZO NV &lt;AKZO.AS>.
      BASF said it expected a U.S. Investment of 240 mln dlrs in
  1987, part of a five-year programme totalling one billion.
      U.S. Projects completed in 1986 included the second acrylic
  acid plant in Freeport, Texas, a technical centre in
  Southfield, Michigan, in which paint lines from automotive
  plants can be refitted, and the new agricultural research
  centre in Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina.
      BASF said that work this year had begun in Geismar,
  Louisiana, on plants for production of special amines and
  polytetrahydrofuran, as well as for expansion of capacity for
  producing tetrahydrofuran.
  

