AMES, Iowa (AP) – German-based chemical maker BASF had made a deal to buy Ames-based Becker Underwood, which makes seed treatment and other farm products.  BASF says the purchase price is $1.02 billion. Becker Underwood was co-founded in 1982 by Atlantic natives Roger Underwood and Jeff Becker.  They sold controlling interest to Norwest Equity Partners of Minneapolis in 2004. Becker has more than 210 employees in Ames; St. Joseph, Mo.; and Caldwell, Idaho; and nearly 270 more in several other countries.

BASF is based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and produces chemicals and plastics as well oil and gas and agricultural herbicides and fertilizers. BASF spokeswoman Anne Burt says final decisions haven’t been made about the future of Becker Underwood’s chief executive officer, Peter Innes, other managers or other workers.