Four entrepreneurs came together to produce the first artificial phosphate fertiliser, superphosphate and make it available for agricultural use. On 19 November, they received a licence from the Bavarian king, Maximilian II to found the Bavarian Public Limited Company for Chemical and Agrochemical Products, known as BAG. This predecessor to Süd-Chemie was created by federal councillor Baron Julius von Niethammer, Joseph von Hirsch, banker at the royal court, Professor of Agriculture Carl Nikolaus Fraas and chemist Wilhelm Mayer. One of the founding shareholders and initiators was Justus von Liebig, the father of modern fertilisation theory.