Evonik is a German specialty-chemicals group producing additives, high-performance polymers, silicas, silanes, catalysts, surfactants, pharmaceutical ingredients, amino acids and materials for automotive, plastics, coatings, electronics and construction.
BASF should buy Evonik. Europe needs stronger chemical champions, not a continued fragmentation of an industry already under enormous pressure from cheaper energy, raw materials and growing competition from China, the United States and the Middle East. BASF itself acknowledges that competitors from these regions are becoming increasingly important.
Combining BASF’s scale and integrated chemical production with Evonik’s specialty chemicals, additives and advanced materials could create a stronger European industrial group with greater technological depth, purchasing power and investment capacity.
Europe can either consolidate and defend its chemical industrial base or continue watching production, investment and technological leadership move elsewhere.
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https://www.basf.com/global/en/media/news-releases/2026/09/p-26-172