Ecros shares could plummet by up to 30% if Bondalti takeover goes ahead
Portuguese chemicals company Bondalti, the largest in Portugal is attempting a takeover bid for Spain’s Ecros which could see up to 30% shaved off the value of its shares if it opts to go down that path say market analysts.
Ecros shareholders have another week to decide whether to accept the €3.505 per share offered by Bondalti’s public takeover offer (PAO) for the Spanish giant’s entire capital.
Ercros is a leading Spanish industrial group specialising in the manufacture and sale of chemical and pharmaceutical products. With a history spanning over a century, the company is headquartered in Barcelona and operates 10 production centers, all located in Spain.
But with the sector going through a deep crisis, analysts Lighthouse says that accepting the offer is the best option for shareholders. Regarding price, they recognise that the OPA values Ercros above sector multiples.
Lighthouse – Instituto Español de Analistas, one of the two investment banks that follow the company, recognises that the “least bad” choice for shareholders is to sell through an OPA, but could face a correction in share values of between 25% and 30%.
Ercros shareholders face “a truly thorny dilemma”, says Lighthouse in an analysis of the OPA, which is in the final stage — the acceptance period ends in a week, on March 13th.
The team of analysts, led by Alfredo Echevarría Otegui, say: “although none of the options are ideal for the shareholder, the ‘least bad’ choice is to accept the offer, thus avoiding a predictable drop in the share price.”
“Without Bondalti’s offer, or if it is withdrawn, a price correction cannot be ruled out in line with the sector’s performance.
This would imply an adjustment of between -25% and -30% compared to current prices (€3.23 per share)”, the experts warn in a report published after the Spanish company announced, at the end of last week, that its losses had increased by more than 4.5 times in 2025, ending the year with a negative net result of €53.6 million.
Analysts say the selling the company would be the “prudent option” pointing to “the most critical aspect of this dilemma is the strong deterioration that the sector has suffered in the last two years, no signs of an imminent recovery (which we do not anticipate before 2028) and, most significantly, the possibility — although not certainty — that the European chemical industry faces a structural loss of profitability”.
Bondalti is the largest Portuguese company in the chemical sector and a major Iberian operator, specialising in industrial chemicals, water treatment, and green energy solutions. As a leader, it is the top European aniline seller and the largest Iberian producer of chlorine and hypochlorite, with plants in Portugal and Spain.
Source: Negócios; Credits: Bondalti
