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EU: Bayer to retire Monsanto name in merger

By  |  June 4, 2018

Bayer’s takeover of US seed giant Monsanto will be completed on Thursday, June 7, the company has said. Although Bayer will acquire all of the weed-killer and seedmaker’s products, the Monsanto name will be left behind.

The €53.9 billion (US$63 billion) deal, the largest-ever foreign takeover by a German company, will go ahead after Bayer received approval from European and US anti-monopoly authorities.

As both companies have global operations, the deal had to be approved by 30 countries around the world. The additional conditions set out by the countries bumped up the costs for Leverkusen-based Bayer.

Under conditions set out by EU and US regulators, Bayer can only begin integrating Monsanto once it has sold off parts of its agrochemical and crop-seeds business to another German chemical giant, BASF. The company expects the sale to take around two months to complete.

Although Bayer will become Monsanto’s sole shareholder on Thursday, the US company’s name will no longer be used going forward, the German firm said.

“Monsanto will no longer be a company name,” the company said, adding, “The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio.”

Full Content: DW
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