The European Commission (EC) is set to restart the clock on its Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) probe of Covestro/Adnoc, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The Commission told the parties yesterday (4 November) that the review on the case will restart, and it would do so retroactively, meaning that the clock would resume from the date Adnoc submitted its final remedies to alleviate the Commission’s concerns, according to one of the sources.

A spokesperson from the EC confirmed that the suspension of the legal deadline has ended, with effect as of 24 October 2025. The provisional deadline for the Commission to take a decision in this case is now 2 March 2026, the spokesperson added.

The EC stopped the clock on its FSR review of the EUR 11.7bn deal after it considered that Adnoc had failed to reply satisfactorily to some of its requests for information.

In parallel, Adnoc submitted a package of remedies to address the FSR concerns of the Commission, including obligations to license Covestro’s sustainability patents and to continue ongoing R&D projects.

After a market test, there were minor tweaks to that offer by the parties and currently, the draft decision on the deal is undergoing internal reviews at the EC level, a second source said.

A spokesperson from Adnoc’s subsidiary XRG said that the company “does not comment on ongoing regulatory matters and continues to engage constructively with the Commission”.

Covestro did not respond to requests for comment.

[Editor’s note: The article has been updated to include comments from the spokespersons of the European Commission and Adnoc’s subsidiary, XRG.]