BASF Draws a Price Line Under Evonik While Syneqt Charts Its Own Course
Published on 10/28/2026 at 21:10 | Editorial boerse-global.de
BASF chief executive Markus Kamieth has made the limits of his interest in Evonik explicit: a combination makes industrial sense, but not at any price. Speaking on Thursday, according to Reuters, Kamieth said BASF will not overpay — a remark that tempers expectations of a bidding war and frames the €24-per-share offer as a ceiling rather than a starting gun.
The distinction matters for Evonik shareholders. Strategic enthusiasm and financial commitment are two different things, and Kamieth's comments put the emphasis squarely on value for BASF's own investors. He offered no specific upper bound beyond the reported bid, leaving the market to read the €24 figure as the current marker of what BASF considers defensible.
That figure emerged roughly a week ago, when, according to media reports, BASF lifted its proposal to €24 per share — a total volume of more than €11 billion. The Handelsblatt put the sweetened offer at €11.2 billion, and Evonik is now reviewing the terms. BASF is hoping the improved bid brings Evonik to the negotiating table. No agreement has been confirmed, and Evonik had rejected the first approach as too low.
Syneqt Insists on Independence
Running parallel to the takeover question is the future shape of Evonik's own portfolio. The group's infrastructure subsidiary Syneqt said on Wednesday, per Reuters, that it intends to remain independent and will look for a new owner on its own terms. The roughly 3,500 jobs at the unit are not at risk, Syneqt added.
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BASF, for its part, had previously signalled that it could continue operating the chemical parks in Marl and Wesseling itself — a position that sits uneasily alongside Syneqt's stated preference. Evonik reportedly plans to launch the sale process in 2027, though a start date is not a completed transaction, and Syneqt's stance describes an intended direction rather than an agreed disposal. The search for a buyer and the takeover talks around the parent are separate processes, even as they overlap in timing.
A Buyer With Its Own Shopping List
Evonik is not only a potential target. Handelsblatt reported on 22 October that the company has spent months examining larger acquisitions in the United States, with Ashland among the possible candidates. That review is at an early stage, a deal is not certain, and Evonik does not comment on market rumours as a matter of principle — so no firm change to the company can be inferred from the report.
Taken together, the strands sketch a group weighing several paths at once: divesting infrastructure, considering a US purchase, and responding to an unsolicited approach from a larger rival. Investors would do well to separate confirmed plans, reported explorations and completed transactions, since only the last of those is binding.
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November 3 as the Next Fixed Point
The next hard date on the calendar is 3 November, when Evonik publishes its quarterly statement for the third quarter of 2026. That release shifts attention back to operating performance, which neither the BASF approach nor a possible US acquisition can substitute for. Until then, the valuation debate rests on a simple constraint from the potential buyer's side: a merger has to make economic sense, and strategic logic alone will not carry it.
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