Bayer said on Thursday it had agreed to sell more crop science businesses to BASF in a deal that fulfills undertakings to the European Union and other regulators as part of its takeover of Monsanto.
The package, being sold for up to €1.7 billion(US$2.1 billion), includes its global vegetable seeds business, certain seed treatments and digital farming activities with total sales of €745 million in 2017.
“With this move, we are implementing the corresponding undertakings made to the European Commission and other regulatory authorities to allow the successful closing of the Monsanto transaction,” Werner Baumann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer, said in a statement.
The German drug and crop chemical maker’s bid to buy seed and chemical company Monsanto is on track to win U.S. antitrust approval by the end of May, unless there is a last-minute complication, two people familiar with the matter said earlier on Thursday, April 26.
The transaction, if it closes as seems likely, will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry.
Full Content: Bloomberg
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