Covestro Agrees to Negotiations with ADNOC Following Year-Long Pursuit

Covestro has agreed to negotiate with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) on a takeover offer of 62 euros per share, marking a significant step forward after more than a year of discussions. ADNOC initially approached Covestro in June 2023, with formal talks beginning in September 2022.

Covestro said on Monday that it had agreed to negotiate with suitor Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) based on a takeover offer of 62 euros ($66.5) per share, after months of courtship by the Emirates' energy company. Discussions, which had been described as open-ended before, would now take the form of "concrete negotiations" with Covestro providing confirmatory due diligence information, it said.

A spokesperson for ADNOC said it welcomed Covestro's decision: "We look forward to jointly working with Covestro to swiftly progress due diligence for this important transaction." It has taken the two sides more than a year to advance to this stage. ADNOC's initial approach Covestro with an informal acquisition offer was reported in June 2023, but it wasn't until September last year that the German target entered into open-ended formal discussions.

($1 = 0.9324 euros) ($1 = 0.9325 euros)