Frankfurt — Germany chemical giant BASF has submitted a higher offer to speciality chemicals group Evonik as part of its takeover bid, according to insiders on Friday, Oct. 23.

The DAX-listed group approached Evonik with a price proposal of around €24 ($27) per share — amounting to a total of well over €11 billion — dpa and the financial news agency dpa-AFX learned from people familiar with the transaction. Experts had already anticipated a potential increase.

Spokespersons for both companies declined to comment on the pricing situation when contacted. Most recently — also unconfirmed — a figure of €22.15 per share, or around €10.3 billion in total, had been circulating.

Evonik's share price rose early on Friday afternoon to €21.34, representing a daily gain of more than 3%.

RAG-Stiftung is largest Evonik shareholder

At the end of September, the participating companies and the RAG-Stiftung (RAG Foundation), as the largest Evonik shareholder, had confirmed the existence of a takeover offer.

The private, non-profit German foundation carries particular sway over BASF's plans, as it currently holds around 43% of Evonik shares. Its primary task is the permanent financing of the follow-up costs of the German hard coal mining industry, which was shut down in 2018.

These perpetual costs are generated from numerous capital investments. Among other interests, the foundation holds stakes in more than 20,000 companies. The Evonik stake is its largest single investment.

Focus on jobs

In addition to a lucrative price for the foundation in the event of an Evonik acquisition, political concerns - especially about jobs in the country's struggling chemical industry - also play an important role. The foundation's board of trustees consists of 13 members, mainly politicians.

Five of them are automatic members by virtue of their office: the prime ministers of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Saarland, the federal ministers for economics and finance, and the chairman of the IG BCE trade union. The board of trustees appoints the executive board. 

BASF wants to adopt site agreements

BASF CEO Markus Kamieth addressed current concerns in a video message published on Thursday. In it, he assured that BASF would adopt the existing site agreements as part of an Evonik purchase.

"Compulsory redundancies would remain excluded until 2032. Collective bargaining agreements and social partnerships will remain untouched," pledged Kamieth. "We would continue to invest in the training of young people."

He also stressed that Evonik's hometown Essen and North Rhine-Westphalia as a whole would remain important locations.

"With at least one executive board portfolio and the management of business and functional units. We will examine which joint activities we could manage from Essen. We want to strengthen NRW as a research and development location."

Kamieth also addressed the sale of the chemical park operator Syneqt, with its roughly 3,500 employees, which had been planned by Evonik. BASF believes it could continue to operate the parks in Marl and Wesseling itself, he said.

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