BASF-Evonik Deal Would Put the West’s Vitamin and Methionine Supply Under One Roof

BASF has raised its takeover proposal for Evonik to €24 per share, according to an October 23 Reuters article citing two people close to the matter. Bloomberg separately reported that the offer had risen above €11 billion.  

A combined company would rank among the largest global producers of vitamin A, vitamin E, and methionine without overlapping in a single feed additive product. BASF has not confirmed the higher figure and has said its statements do not constitute an offer. 

The deal would not add capacity in any single product. Its effect would be to place a large share of non-Chinese supply for several core feed additives under one owner at a time when US trade policy is pushing buyers away from Chinese origin.  

Europe’s other legacy vitamin producer is also being sold. On October 22, dsm-firmenich named the two companies its Animal Nutrition & Health business is set to become under CVC Capital Partners, pending regulatory approvals and the separation of the two units. Noviwest would take vitamins and carotenoids, and Panavora would take premix and other specialty feed additives. 

BASF first approached Evonik in September with a proposal of about €10.3 billion, or €22.15 per share, which Evonik rejected as too low. The RAG-Stiftung, which holds about 43% of Evonik, is the deciding shareholder and has declined to comment on the revised figure. BASF Chief Executive Markus Kamieth has pledged no compulsory redundancies at Evonik through 2032. Presenting third quarter results on October 28, he described a combination as logical but said BASF would not overpay. Evonik reports third-quarter results on November 3. 

On the vitamin side, BASF holds 16% of global vitamin A nameplate capacity, level with dsm-firmenich, along with 16% of vitamin E and 14% of vitamin B2, according to Expana’s Feed Additives Supply & Demand service. Its position is far stronger outside China. BASF accounts for about 41% of non-Chinese vitamin A nameplate capacity and about 47% of non-Chinese vitamin E. BASF and dsm-firmenich are the only vitamin E producers outside China, and both companies’ vitamin businesses could change ownership within the next year if the proposed transactions go ahead. 

Evonik brings methionine. It holds about 25% of global methionine nameplate capacity, the largest current share of any producer and slightly ahead of Adisseo, according to Expana’s Supply & Demand service. Adisseo would regain the lead once its planned 2027 capacity in China comes online. Outside China, Evonik holds about 42% of methionine nameplate capacity, with plants in Belgium, Singapore, and the US. 

The US footprint is what gives the deal weight in the US market. Expana’s Supply & Demand service lists Evonik’s US plant as the only domestic source of DL-methionine. Novus International’s US capacity is liquid MHA. Evonik also operates the only US lysine capacity that falls outside the joint venture CJ CheilJedang and ADM announced on October 2. 

Both of those US positions sit behind trade barriers. The antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on Chinese L-lysine, published September 16, carry antidumping margins of 73.55% to 139.83% and countervailing duty rates of 48.21% to 82.11%. The antidumping orders on methionine from France, Japan, and Spain are in a full five-year sunset review at the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which is expected to run to about late May 2027. Commerce issued expedited affirmative sunset results on October 5. As the only US DL-methionine producer, Evonik is part of the domestic industry the ITC will assess. Under BASF, that position would belong to a company whose European vitamins already benefit from a separate US trade measure. US Customs and Border Protection Ruling N361842, issued June 5, classified BASF’s Lutavit vitamin A feed products under HTS 2309.90.9500. That classification leaves EU-origin product at the 1.4% base rate while Chinese-origin product entering under the same heading picks up the 25% Section 301 List 3 duty. 

The two companies’ amino acids and vitamins portfolios do not overlap. Expana’s Supply & Demand service shows BASF produces no feed-grade amino acids and Evonik produces no feed vitamins, which suggests any competition review would focus on other segments. 

For feed buyers, the more immediate questions are commercial. A single supplier offering vitamin A, vitamin E, B2, and methionine could change how premixers and integrators structure contracts. Evonik’s lysine sulfate business is a small, single-form operation within the group and could be reassessed under new ownership. If both transactions close, a stand-alone Noviwest and a BASF-Evonik group would be two very differently structured European suppliers competing for the same accounts. 

If the deal proceeds, a combined BASF-Evonik would hold about 41% of non-Chinese vitamin A nameplate capacity, 47% of non-Chinese vitamin E, and 42% of non-Chinese methionine. In the US it would hold all domestic DL-methionine production and about 20% of lysine. Chinese producers would still control the global balance in lysine, threonine, and most B vitamins, where neither company has meaningful capacity. Planned Chinese vitamin E additions, if completed on schedule, would lower BASF’s global share to about 13% over the next two years, even as its share outside China holds steady.

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