BASF's Promises Meet Evonik's Silence: Inside the €24 Bid That Isn't a Deal Yet
Published on 10/28/2026 at 06:02 | Editorial boerse-global.de
BASF has gone public with what it would do to Evonik if it ever gets the keys — and stayed silent on whether it will get them at all. In a Thursday video message, chief executive Markus Kamieth pledged to rule out compulsory redundancies at Evonik through 2032 and to take over existing site agreements and collective bargaining contracts, according to a Handelsblatt report. Essen and North Rhine-Westphalia would retain weight in the combined group, holding at least one board department. BASF also held out continued operation for the Marl and Wesseling chemical parks that Evonik has put up for sale.
Those are intentions for a merger that has not happened. The companies involved have not confirmed the size of the reported offer, which leaves publicly stated plans for the post-takeover period sitting alongside a bid that remains unconfirmed.
What the €24 figure does and does not mean
Reuters reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the offer had been raised to €24 per Evonik share, with BASF hoping to trigger negotiations. The second source puts the bid at more than €11 billion in total. Evonik and RAG-Stiftung declined to comment.
The caveat lies in the procedural stage rather than the price. A reported offer is neither a confirmed agreement nor a completed transaction; €24 describes the bid as reported in the media, not a secured payout for shareholders. Evonik closed at €21.22, below the reported offer level — a gap that on its own says nothing about whether a deal will be agreed or succeed.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Evonik?
Evonik's own shopping list
While BASF courts its target, Evonik may be pursuing an acquisition of its own. Reuters reported Thursday, citing Handelsblatt, that Evonik is examining a purchase of Ashland — a review that began before BASF made its approach. Evonik had commissioned investment banks to search for takeover targets, with Ashland among the options, though the review is at an early stage and no deal is guaranteed.
Meanwhile, the product pipeline keeps moving
Operationally, Evonik introduced Lypron on 19 October, a rumen-stable lysine solution for amino acid supply in ruminants. Sipena will manufacture Lypron exclusively for Evonik, a clearly assigned production role for the partner tied to the launch.
The company also brought two VESTAKEEP PEEK grades to market on 20 October for long-term dental prosthetics. The DC4760 and DC4780 variants are designed for CAD/CAM processing. On 13 October, Evonik launched a chemical recycling initiative for polyurethane foam in Japan with Toyotsu Chemiplas and Sanyo Chemical, aimed at recovering polyols and amines and testing a scalable recycling model.
Evonik at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.
These projects sit at different stages. The new products are already launched, while the recycling effort is a feasibility exercise — and neither is proof of future earnings on its own.
For investors, the layers need to stay separate. BASF's site and employment pledges describe possible conditions; the offer price and Evonik's own acquisition plans rest on reports about open-ended projects. None of it amounts to a completed transaction.
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