Page 56 - Plastics News March 2025
P. 56
BUSINESS NEWS
in 2025, with operations starting by the end of dend will be distributed for fiscal year 2024, as
2026. was also the case in the previous year.
Alongside that, Covestro is continuing to transi- Takeover offer of the ADNOC Group success-
tion to a circular economy in a targeted man- ful
ner. In 2024, the company secured access to
renewable energy from a solar farm in Spain Following concrete negotiations, Covestro
under a long-term power purchase agreement signed an Investment Agreement on October
(PPA) with bp. This will increase the share of re- 1, 2024, with companies of the ADNOC Group,
newables in Covestro’s electricity consumption including ADNOC International Germany Hold-
in Spain from 10% to 30% and reduce CO emis- ing AG (“Bidder”), a wholly-owned indirect sub-
2 sidiary of XRG P.J.S.C. (formerly ADNOC Inter-
sions by around 16,000 metric tons per year.
Moreover, Covestro is investing EUR 100 million national Limited, together with the Bidder and
other companies of the ADNOC Group “XRG”).
On October 25, 2024, the bidder made a vol-
untary public takeover offer (“takeover offer”)
of EUR 62 per Covestro share to all sharehold-
ers of Covestro AG. Following the end of the
additional acceptance period on December 16,
2024, XRG announced on December 19, 2024,
that the takeover offer had been accepted for a
total of 154,541,806 Covestro shares. Together
with the shares previously acquired by XRG, this
worldwide in innovation centers for research and
development. Besides these targeted growth in- corresponds to a stake of 91.3% of Covestro’s
itiatives, Covestro is also committed to system- existing capital stock as of the above-mentioned
atically optimizing internal processes. As part of reporting date. As a result of further subsequent
its “STRONG” transformation program, Coves- purchases of Covestro shares, XRG’s stake in
tro thus aims to save EUR 400 million worldwide Covestro’s capital stock at the end of 2024 is
each year by 2028 by means of digitalization 91.58%.
and structural adjustments. XRG sees Covestro as a key component in its
performance materials and special chemicals
“We cannot influence external market conditions
– but we can control how we respond to them,” business and shares its strategic vision of be-
says Christian Baier, CFO of Covestro. “That is coming fully circular. The takeover is an impor-
why we used 2024 to make our processes more tant step in XRG’s strategy of becoming one of
efficient and to enhance our resilience.” Digitali- the world’s top five chemical companies.
zation and artificial intelligence play a key role in The takeover offer is subject to the usual condi-
that. We will continue to optimize our structures tions of completion with regard to antitrust and
in 2025 to make Covestro fit for the future.” foreign trade clearance and clearance under
EU law on foreign subsidies. Completion of the
Due to the negative net income and in accord-
ance with Covestro’s dividend policy, no divi- transaction is not expected before the second
56 PLASTICS NEWS March 2025
