Covestro’s Final Chapter: Share Price Stagnates Ahead of Market Exit

As its new owner, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), assembles the leadership for a future global chemicals behemoth, Covestro continues to face persistent headwinds in its day-to-day operations. For investors, however, these gloomy operational prospects have largely faded into the background. Market attention is now almost exclusively fixed on the impending termination of the company’s stock exchange listing.

Operational Challenges Persist

Away from the trading floor, the company’s economic reality remains strained. The anticipated recovery in global demand has failed to materialize at the expected pace. Simultaneously, industry-wide overcapacity and pricing pressures continue to squeeze margins across the sector. For the ongoing 2026 fiscal year, management anticipates an operating result (EBITDA) merely in line with the previous year’s figure of approximately 740 million euros. This extends a difficult period that followed a drastic consolidated loss of 644 million euros recorded in 2025. Consequently, dividend payments are no longer under consideration.

A Share Price Anchored by the Exit Offer

In the equity markets, Covestro’s share price has long since decoupled from fundamental business performance. Currently trading at 59.58 euros, the stock hovers just above the set cash compensation of 59.46 euros being offered to remaining minority shareholders by XRG, an ADNOC subsidiary. With XRG already controlling more than 95% of the shares, the stock now functions almost exclusively as an arbitrage position in the run-up to the decisive Annual General Meeting in April 2026. The pending delisting will finalize the end of the company’s independent status within the DAX environment.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Covestro?

Strategic Shifts and Cost-Cutting Drive

In response to persistent earnings weakness, the company is accelerating its “STRONG” transformation program. The initiative aims to achieve annual cost savings of 400 million euros by 2028, with a significant portion of these reductions already realized. In parallel, the new majority owner is restructuring the broader corporate landscape. ADNOC and Austria’s OMV have recently appointed the top leadership for the new Borouge Group International (BGI). Within this entity—formed through the merger of Borealis, Borouge, and Nova Chemicals—Covestro is slated to operate as the central platform for specialty chemicals.

The final legal step for the stock market departure is imminent. At the shareholder meeting next month, investors are expected to pass the squeeze-out resolution. This will formally trigger the share transfer and the subsequent delisting process, marking the definitive move into the practical implementation phase of Covestro’s integration into the new Arab-European chemicals conglomerate.