CDN NEWS | 
US NEWS 
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Abu Dhabi state oil firm ADNOC is set to secure EU approval for its 14.7-billion-euro ($17 billion) bid for German chemicals company Covestro, with EU regulators likely to seek tweaks to remedies provided earlier this month, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The European Commission is examining the deal, ADNOC’s biggest acquisition yet and one of the largest foreign takeovers of an EU company by a Gulf state, over concerns that ADNOC may be using state subsidies to acquire the chemicals company.
The Commission declined to comment. Covestro shares gained 2.4% in late trade after the Reuters story was published, versus a slight dip in the STOXX Europe 600 chemicals index .
The EU regulator sought feedback from rivals and third parties last week after ADNOC offered to change its articles of association to remove EU concerns about the unlimited state guarantee.
It also pledged to retain Covestro’s intellectual property in Europe. The Commission is expected to demand some minor changes to the remedies before clearing the deal, the sources said. Such demands are typical after feedback from third parties.
ADNOC reiterated previous comments about offering a package of robust and proportionate remedies to the Commission and that it was confident this would lead to timely clearance of the deal.
Separately, the Commission is expected to resume its investigation of the deal shortly after temporarily halting the process last month while waiting for ADNOC to provide requested information.
ADNOC has since responded to all the requests for information, said another source.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Barbara Lewis and Mark Potter
Share This:
