LONDON ,May 26-Cognis has not ruled out a possible takeover as it looks at strategic options for the future, the German specialty chemicals producer said on Wednesday, following news reports that BASF had made a bid for the group.
On Tuesday, Financial Times Deutschland reported that chemical major BASF had submitted a takeover offer and Goldman Sachs and Permira, which advise a group of private equity firms that own Cognis, were evaluating a bid, citing unidentified people familiar with the planned transaction.
Cognis spokeswoman, Susanne Sengel, said the company would not comment on speculation of potential bids, however the possibility that the company's future ownership might change was not totally dismissed.
It is not new for us being a private equity-owned company. Our investors are looking at strategic options, which means there could be a possible selling to another strategic investor or there could be an IPO (initial public offering), she said.
BASF spokeswoman Jennifer Moore-Braun said it was company policy not to comment on speculation.
Meanwhile, in a statement further detailing first quarter performance earnings first announced on 26 April, Cognis reported that its net debt remained at ?.88bn due to unfavourable euro/dollar exchange rate developments. However, record earnings in the first quarter helped counter exchange rate moves.
Cognis s CEO Antonio Trius said that all of the group s business units and regions had delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2010.
We were extremely well positioned to benefit from improved business conditions, he said.
Looking ahead, Trius announced there were clear signs that global economic conditions would continue to recover with the pickup in demand in the first quarter 2010 and strong momentum continuing in April.
We remain cautiously optimistic and expect that the recovery in Europe will continue and that Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets will remain on track for growth, he said.
However, overall visibility remains limited and trading conditions are still uncertain, Trius added.
If the acquisition of Cognis went through, it would be BASF s largest deal since it bought specialty chemicals major Ciba for around ?.9bn in April last year.
On Tuesday, Financial Times Deutschland reported that chemical major BASF had submitted a takeover offer and Goldman Sachs and Permira, which advise a group of private equity firms that own Cognis, were evaluating a bid, citing unidentified people familiar with the planned transaction.
Cognis spokeswoman, Susanne Sengel, said the company would not comment on speculation of potential bids, however the possibility that the company's future ownership might change was not totally dismissed.
It is not new for us being a private equity-owned company. Our investors are looking at strategic options, which means there could be a possible selling to another strategic investor or there could be an IPO (initial public offering), she said.
BASF spokeswoman Jennifer Moore-Braun said it was company policy not to comment on speculation.
Meanwhile, in a statement further detailing first quarter performance earnings first announced on 26 April, Cognis reported that its net debt remained at ?.88bn due to unfavourable euro/dollar exchange rate developments. However, record earnings in the first quarter helped counter exchange rate moves.
Cognis s CEO Antonio Trius said that all of the group s business units and regions had delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2010.
We were extremely well positioned to benefit from improved business conditions, he said.
Looking ahead, Trius announced there were clear signs that global economic conditions would continue to recover with the pickup in demand in the first quarter 2010 and strong momentum continuing in April.
We remain cautiously optimistic and expect that the recovery in Europe will continue and that Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets will remain on track for growth, he said.
However, overall visibility remains limited and trading conditions are still uncertain, Trius added.
If the acquisition of Cognis went through, it would be BASF s largest deal since it bought specialty chemicals major Ciba for around ?.9bn in April last year.
