Evonik ‘rejects enhanced BASF offer’

According to Reuters, the Evonik board has rejected an enhanced offer from BASF and declined to enter formal talks about a merger, but kept the door open by asking BASF to “elaborate on ​the rationale for its bid”. This came after Evonik revealed much improved results in Q3.

BASF had originally offered €22.15/share (€10.3 billion) in September and improved this to €24/share (€11.18 billion) in the last week of October. However, the board stated that it “remains focused on its strategic ​direction and further development of Evonik as an independent company”.

In Q3, Evonik announced on 3 November, sales were 13% up on Q3, the biggest quarterly gain since Q3 2022. This was largely (10%) the result of higher selling prices, while sales volumes were 2% higher. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 40% year-on-year to €629 million 

“Our strategic positioning is paying off in full right now. We are strong and robust,” said Claus Rettig (pictured), interim CEO during Christian Kullmann’s absence through illness. “We are even more optimistic about our outlook. Dragons fly highest in headwinds.”

Earlier, BASF CEO Markus Kamieth stated that BASF is ready to enter into talks and confirmed that it had held exploratory talks with Evonik and its largest shareholder, RAG-Stiftung. The two companies, he said, are strong, global players in speciality chemicals. Being part of BASF would enable Evonik to source certain raw materials from it “more cost-effectively, more directly and more reliably”.

The chemical industry is, Kamieth said, “consolidating, one way or another. The question is: Do we shape this ourselves, as German companies, with our values, our model of co-determination and our social partnership? Or do we wait until European chemical companies are overtaken in global competition or increasingly acquired by foreign investors?”

In August, Evonik had revealed plans to reorganise its business portfolio in response to what Rettig called “a structural and economic crisis in our industry,” said Claus Rettig. As part of its Evonik Tailor Made restructuring programme, whose second phase of implementation will run from 2027 to 2029, the company is planning to cut 3,200 jobs, about two thirds of them in Germany. 

The company added that it will use the improved cost position to “concentrate growth on our strengths, on the right future topics and on the most lucrative markets”. Individual business units will also be aligned according to their roles and managed accordingly: as growth drivers or cash generators. 

In addition, Evonik will close two smaller sites in Germany that have been particularly impacted. The activities of one in Hamburg that makes cosmetics and personal care ingredients will be folded into the Essen-Goldschmidtstrasse site, while the chlorosilanes facility at Bitterfeld will close in April 2027.