KP Lau, managing director of German chemicals company BASF’s Asia-Pacific shared service centre (SSC) has decided to retire according to Helen Leung, a spokesperson for the firm. Lau is currently in a transitional period until the end of March 2016. The new managing director is Andreas Biermann.

Lau ran the SSC since 2008, an operation that serves 17 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific. The SSC is part of BASF’s global network of shared service organizations, providing functional services in the areas of finance, human resources, the environment, health and safety, controlling, procurement and information services to countries across the Asia-Pacific.