BASF Wins Plaudits for Nylon Recycling While Keeping Evonik Door Ajar

BASF has picked up two industry honours for its plastics-recycling work, recognition that lands as the chemicals group simultaneously angles for higher-margin specialty markets and keeps a possible Evonik deal alive.

The Ludwigshafen-based company took the MATERIALICA Award 2026 in the carbon-dioxide-efficiency category and second place in the sustainability section of the Fakuma Innovation Award 2026, both handed out yesterday. The prizes went to two in-house processes for recycling polyamide 6 — one built on depolymerisation, the other on solvent-based recycling. Each is designed to close the loop on the plastic and trim the carbon footprint of plastics processing.

Such technologies are gaining industrial weight as environmental rules tighten and customers increasingly ask for certified recyclate. The jury nods also bolster BASF's push to widen its portfolio of more sustainable materials.

Ultrason Turns Toward AI Hardware

Recycling is only one plank of a broader repositioning. At the start of October, BASF sharpened the application focus of its Ultrason line on electrical and electronic components for AI data centres, high-speed internet and electric mobility. It has also launched GLYTHERMIN, a heat-transfer fluid for liquid-cooled data centres, with the GLYTHERMIN DC PG 25 variant qualified as an NVIDIA DSX Ready Coolant. The moves are a bid to capture part of the global wave of investment in digital infrastructure and data-centre capacity, adding fields with steeper technical barriers to entry alongside the group's traditional basic-chemicals business.

Evonik: A Bigger Bid, But Only After the Books

On the deal front, BASF is reportedly leaving the door open to raising its offer for Essen-based specialty chemicals rival Evonik — provided it first gets a look at the target's accounts. The dpa-AFX news agency, citing industry circles, said management has tied any improved bid to that condition. The standoff began when Evonik rejected BASF's first approach, which valued the company at EUR 22.15 per share, as insufficient. No formal, binding takeover offer has been tabled, and neither side has officially confirmed a revised bid or binding next steps.

That BASF is not walking away shows in the concessions already on the table, including a willingness to lock in existing German site and job guarantees by contract. Evonik currently has a ban on compulsory redundancies at its German sites running until 2032.

Bernstein Stays Bullish Ahead of Quarterly Update

Investors, meanwhile, have been watching closely. Bernstein Research kept BASF at "Outperform" on Wednesday after an investor meeting, holding its EUR 61 price target — a stance that puts the brokerage among the optimists on the stock.

BASF shares finished Friday's session at EUR 52.96, a gain of 0.7% on the day and up 19% since the start of the year. The stock now sits about 3.8% below its 52-week high of EUR 55.05.

Fresh fundamental colour arrives on 28 October, when the group publishes its full third-quarter 2026 report at 07:00 CET. Beyond the headline figures, market participants are likely to press for detail on demand in core industrial markets, the progress of efficiency programmes and any acquisition plans. In parallel, BASF's capital measures continue: 6,046,289 treasury shares had been bought back as of 9 October under the ongoing repurchase programme.