According to a story in Financial Times Deutschland (FTD), BASF has reached an agreement in principle with private-equity owners of Cognis to a takeover of the Germany additives maker. Citing sources close to the negotiations, the paper reported that Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Permira, co-owners of Cognis, have agreed on the price and principle terms of the deal.  An announcement is expected around the middle of June, after BASF finishes final research as part of its due diligence efforts. The agreed-upon price was not reported. According to Reuters, Cognis’ CFO Marco Panichi indicated last month that a fair value for the company would be around EUR 3.4 billion.