Evonik reportedly rejects €10.3 billion BASF bid

Evonik's management rejected BASF's takeover offer of about €22.15 a share—€10.3 billion in equity value and an enterprise value of roughly €14.2 billion—as too low to justify formal negotiations or due diligence. Both companies confirmed exploratory talks on Friday. BASF declined to comment on the reported price and said its valuation is based on synergy potential that can only be verified with Evonik's involvement. The offer carried a premium of nearly 28-29% to Evonik's pre-speculation price. Evonik shares rose as much as 2.5% to around €19.85 on Monday, September 28, 2026, with one report citing a 7.2% jump; BASF shares fell 3.6% on Friday when the approach became public. Against that market move, North Rhine-Westphalia Economics Minister Mona Neubaur said any solution must be judged by whether it would give the investments at the sites in North Rhine-Westphalia and the people who work there a future. IG BCE head Michael Vassiliadis, on the RAG-Stiftung board of trustees and BASF's supervisory board, recused himself from related decisions and said the purchase of a successful company by another would not become a story of the future for sites and employees simply because the new entity was larger. RAG-Stiftung's stake is reported as 44% or 43%. A combination would mean about €74 billion in combined revenues; BASF's largest prior deals were Bayer's seed and herbicide business for €7.6bn in 2018 and Engelhard for $4.8bn in 2006. Formal talks and RAG-Stiftung's stance remain open.