Germany – Covestro’s Management Board and Supervisory Board ‘welcome’ the €14.7 billion public takeover bid by Adnoc Group (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) jointly recommend Covestro’s shareholders to accept the offer. CEO Markus Steilemann states that.
‘After thorough consideration, my fellow executives and I, together with the Supervisory Board, have come to the conclusion that a strategic partnership, based on the broad commitments of ADNOC International, is the right step,’ Steilemann writes on LinkedIn. ‘We are also convinced that this partnership is in the best interests of Covestro, our shareholders, our employees and all other Covestro stakeholders. We are pursuing a long-term growth strategy and with the support of ADNOC International we can implement it even more consistently. We therefore support the offer and recommend that our shareholders accept it.
New shares
Abu Dhabi state oil giant Adnoc wants to acquire German chemical producer Covestro for 14.7 billion euros. Covestro’s debts will also be taken over. It will be one of the largest deal ever by a Gulf state. Chemical giant Covestro, a former subsidiary of chemical company Bayer, also operates in the Netherlands and Belgium. In Antwerp, it owns a large production site, which at the time came with it from Bayer. Three years ago, the German company acquired DSM’s RFM business (Resins & Functional Materials business), a 1.6 billion deal. In June, Covestro put millions into Groningen-based company BioBTX. The investment will help build the first demonstration plant for renewable aromatics – chemical feedstocks.
The deal has been up in the air for some time. Previously, Adnoc bid for the German company, each time increasing the bid by a billion. In the deal, the Gulf company is also pumping 1.17 billion worth of new shares into Covestro.
