Two years ago Bayer, mostly known as a chemical and pharmaceutical company, announced their plans to take over the US-based agriculture specialist Monsanto. The future merger caused quite the stir from the get-go, as the resulting super agro-chemical company would be the largest worldwide. With a price tag of US$62.5 billion, the takeover would also be the largest one ever to be realized by a German company. Now, the last obstacle on the way to the merger has been removed: “Receipt of the DOJ’s approval brings us close to our goal of creating a leading company in agriculture,” said Bayer CEO Werner Baumann. “We want to help farmers across the world grow more nutritious food in a more sustainable way.”

Merger finalized in two months

On May 29, the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) gave their conditional approval for the proposed acquisition of Monsanto. These conditions include the divestments of certain parts of its business, which are similar to Monsanto, to its competitor BASF. The Leverkusen-based Bayer company aims to sell large parts of its seed business with crops such as soy, cotton and oilseed rape as well as certain herbicides from the crop protection business to its competitors. This transaction is expected to earn Bayer around €5.9 billion and is to be completed in approximately two months.

International approval of transaction

Bayer has now obtained almost all necessary clearances conditional for closing the merger with Monsanto, including from countries such as Brazil, Russia, China, and the EU Commission. The company expects to receive any outstanding approvals required for completing the transaction very shortly.

Once all approvals are collected and divestments are accomplished, Bayer will become the sole shareholder of Monsanto Company and will integrate the former Monsanto products into their own portfolio.

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