據彭博社2023年8月14日報道，知情人士說，阿布扎比國家石油公司(Adnoc)表示，該公司準備將對德國化學工業公司科思創公司(Covestro AG)的非正式報價提高到大約116億歐元(合127億美元)，條件是科思創公司同意進入正式談判。

知情人士說，這家有阿聯酋政府背景的能源巨頭已向科思創公司口頭表示，如果這樣的報價漲幅能夠促使談判啟動，Adnoc可能會重新提出每股60歐元報價的書面提議。這一報價將比科思創公司上周五的收盤價溢價大約29%。

知情人士說，科思創公司管理層和監事會正在考慮他們的選擇，最快可能在本周做出回應?？扑紕摴竟蓛r周一漲幅高達8.8%。到法蘭克福時間8月14日下午2點23分，該股上漲5%，使科思創公司市值達到大約94億歐元。

Adnoc的任何此類舉動都將提高此前每股55歐元和57歐元的非正式報價。上述知情人士稱，科思創公司仍認為，7月份Adnoc提交的最新報價過低。他們表示，兩家公司及其顧問仍在繼續討論這筆交易的好處。

彭博新聞社此前曾報道稱，除了價格問題，Adnoc一直在努力解決科思創公司對交易的其他擔憂，包括它將如何幫助科思創公司的管理層發展特種化學品業務。

上述知情人士稱，相關討論仍在進行中，Adnoc尚未就是否提高對科思創公司的報價或提高多少做出最終決定。由于涉及機密信息，上述知情人士要求不具名采訪。Adnoc和科思創公司的代表拒絕置評。

Adnoc首席執行官Sultan Al Jaber正在尋找交易，以更好地與沙特阿拉伯國家石油公司（沙特阿美）旗下的化工部門競爭，并發展公司自己的下游和可再生能源業務。Adnoc正在與奧地利的油氣集團（OMV AG）就阿聯酋博祿公司（Borouge Plc）和奧地利北歐化工公司（Borealis AG）兩家公司合并的可能性進行談判，以形成一家價值超過300億美元的化工和塑料巨頭。 

這些潛在的交易與阿聯酋吸引投資和技術，以及建立新產業和制造能力的更廣泛計劃相吻合。另外，Adnoc已開始向德國輸送液化天然氣，幫助該國擺脫對管道天然氣供應的依賴。

科思創公司曾在8月初表示，由于全球需求疲軟，預計其全年利潤將在11億歐元至16億歐元指導區間的下半部分。其他德國化工企業巴斯夫、贏創工業集團和朗盛集團都警告稱，今年剩余時間的前景將惡化，原因是全球化工工業產出低迷和消費品需求放緩。

李峻 譯自 油價網

原文如下：

Adnoc Weighs Boosting Covestro Bid Again to $12.7B

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. indicated it’s prepared to boost its informal offer for Covestro AG to about 11.6 billion ($12.7 billion) on the condition the German chemicals group agrees to enter formal talks, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The state-backed energy giant has verbally signaled to Covestro that it could come back with a new, written proposal of 60 per share, should such a bump get negotiations started, the people said. An offer at that level would represent a premium of about 29% to Covestro’s closing share price on Friday.

Covestro’s management and supervisory board are considering their options and may respond as soon as this week, the people said. Shares in Covestro rose as much as 8.8% on Monday. The stock was up 5% at 2:23 p.m. in Frankfurt, giving the company a market value of about 9.4 billion.

Any such move by Adnoc would improve previous informal bids of 55 and 57 per share. The most recent of these, submitted in July, is still seen as too low by Covestro, according to the people. Both companies and their advisers have continued to discuss the merits of a transaction, they said. 

As well as price, Adnoc has been trying to address other Covestro concerns about a transaction, including how it would help the German company’s management develop the specialty chemical operations, Bloomberg News reported previously.

Deliberations are ongoing and Adnoc has made no final decision about if, or by how much, to increase an offer for Covestro, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Representatives for Adnoc and Covestro declined to comment.

Adnoc’s Chief Executive Officer Sultan Al Jaber is hunting for deals to better compete with Saudi Aramco’s Sabic chemical unit, and to develop the company’s own downstream and renewable energy operations. Adnoc is in separate talks with Austria’s OMV AG about a potential merger of two companies they back, Borouge Plc and Borealis AG, to form a chemicals and plastics giant worth more than $30 billion.

The potential transactions dovetail with a wider plan by the United Arab Emirates to attract investment and technology, as well as build new industries and manufacturing capabilities. Separately, Adnoc has started delivering liquefied natural gas to Germany, stepping in to help the country wean itself off of Russian supplies. 

Covestro said earlier in August that it expected full year-profit to come in at the lower half of a guided range of 1.1 billion and 1.6 billion, citing waning global demand. Fellow German chemicals firms BASF SE, Evonik Industries AG and Lanxess AG have all warned of a worsening outlook for the rest of the year, blaming subdued global industrial output and slow demand for consumer products.