German chemicals conglomerate Evonik Industries is engaged with several private equity sponsors and strategics as it advances the sale of its C4 division, five sources familiar with the matter said.

Final bids for the performance intermediaries subsidiary, which is also known as Oxeno, are due in November, two of the sources said.

Sponsors AURELIUS Group and AEQUITA, and privately-owned International Chemicals Investor Group (ICIG) are among those groups in the second round and still in contention, three of the sources said. Other sponsors and strategics also remain in the fray, another of the sources added. ICIG’s interest is driven in part by the potential to unlock synergies with the superabsorbents business it previously acquired from Evonik in 2024, a banker following the deal noted.

AEQUITA could likewise unlock synergies by acquiring the C4 division, as previously noted by this news service.

C4’s performance intermediates are produced at the Marl Chemical Park, in Germany, for which it sources feedstock from the nearby Gelschenkirchen refinery. The refinery, which was acquired by Klesch Group from BP in a transaction that completed on 3 August, also hosts the production facilities of AEQUITA’s recently acquired olefin business, now renamed Velogy.

The listed Essen-based specialty chemicals manufacturer was expected to collect first-round bids for C4 at the end of August, as reported by this news service.

On 21 September, this news service first reported that Evonik was in discussions with its larger German peer, BASF, on a potential takeover. This was confirmed by Evonik on 28 September following further press reports.

On 22 September, the company noted that the sale of C4 was progressing as planned, in addition to a sale of its infrastructure business, Syneqt, but provided no more details on the disposals.

The sale of C4, which is codenamed Project Abraham, is being advised on the sellside by Deutsche Bank and first came to market earlier this year, as per a report by this news service. The same report noted that the business is highly cyclical and generates EBITDA of less than EUR 30m.

Evonik first announced plans to dispose of the performance intermediates business in 2022, as part of a portfolio finetuning.

The unit sits within Evonik’s Infrastructure segment, which reported 2Q26 adjusted EBITDA of EUR 100m, an increase from EUR 47m in 1Q26, driven by higher margins for C4 caused by the Iran conflict.

The C4 unit, which processes raw ‘crack C4’ hydrocarbons used in the automotive, rubber, plastics, and cosmetic products industries has long been a divestment candidate.

Evonik operates across three core segments globally: Infrastructure; Advanced Technologies, which manufactures polymers and feed additives; and Custom Solutions, which serves end-markets, including cleaning and pharmaceuticals.

Frankfurt-listed Evonik has a market capitalisation of EUR 9.79bn.

Evonik, Deutsch Bank, and AURELIUS declined to comment. AEQUITA and ICIG did not respond to requests for comment.