Germany – Covestro announces a global reorganization to save 400 million euros annually by the end of 2028. A large part of the savings relates to the German operations: 190 million euros. At the same time, the company started negotiations for a takeover by Adnoc.
When presenting its annual figures in February of this year, Covestro already indicated that the results were significantly affected by the challenging economic conditions. Geopolitical crises negatively affected demand and sales prices. In contrast, energy and raw material costs in Europe are high. Over 2023, Covestro saw sales decline by 20 percent. EBITDA fell by a third.
The first savings are already underway, according to Covestro. In doing so, the company also plans to make greater use of artificial intelligence to continue to increase efficiency and productivity in the future. Further, the company did not give any concrete details about the reorganization.
Meanwhile, Covestro is in “concrete negotiations” with Adnoc, regarding a potential acquisition. After earlier exploratory talks, Covestro and Adnoc have concluded that an agreement is possible. The starting point for the negotiations is for Adnoc to pay 62 euros per Covestro share.
Covestro was part of Bayer until 2015. A year earlier, Bayer decided to divest its MaterialScience business unit.
Adnoc is a state-owned United Arab Emirates company and is also the UAE’s largest oil company. It owns 24.9 percent of the shares of Austrian oil and gas company OMV. OMV, together with Italy’s ENI, in turn invests in Adnoc’s refining business.