BASF Pharma is to establish a new global operational headquarters in London from July 1, the company announced on January 19. The existing board of Knoll AG, the current controlling company for the pharmaceutical division based at Ludwigshafen, Germany, is to be replaced by an executive board for BASF Pharma based in London, led by Dr Thorlef Spickschen. BASF Pharma makes 90 per cent of its sales outside Germany. The company had sales in 1998 of Euro2.3bn (£1.42bn).