BASF is considering taking over Evonik

Dusseldorf. The chemical company BASF has contacted the specialty chemicals company Evonik with takeover plans. The Handelsblatt learned this from circles of those involved. The “Financial Times” (FT) first reported on it.

The Ludwigshafen-based company has approached both Evonik itself and the main shareholder, the RAG Foundation. But there is no takeover offer, it is said in the circles. BASF has already approached banks about a possible takeover.

Both stocks reacted significantly to the report. While BASF shares fell by up to 2.8 percent, Evonik shares in the MDax rose by up to eleven percent. BASF currently has a market capitalization of around 47 billion euros, while Evonik was recently valued on the stock exchange at a good eight billion euros.

Both companies, like the entire chemical industry in Germany, are in crisis. High energy prices in Europe and increasing competition from Asia are putting companies under pressure. Evonik recently announced that it wanted to cut 3,200 jobs - the majority of them in Germany. However, declines in production in Asia due to a lack of oil and gas in the wake of the Iran war had recently given German chemical companies a special boom.