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US: DOJ Releases formal approval of Bayer and Monsanto tie up

By  |  January 30, 2019
The Department of Justice formally announced its green light for the Bayer-Monsanto merger, conditional to further divestments by the two companies.

The DOJ filed a 46-page response to more than one million public comments on the merger, announcing it will not recommend additional changes to the agreement.

In May 2018, DOJ ordered Bayer and Monsanto to divest $9 billion in assets, before the Trump administration would approve the estimated $62.5-billion merger.

Early in 2018 Bayer had made divestments including selling portions of its crop science division to BASF, totaling about $7 billion. The response filed by DOJ on Tuesday indicates the companies have met all the demands.

“This remedy is a victory for American farmers and consumers,” DOJ said in its filing.

“It fully addresses the competitive threat posed by the merger by vesting the divestiture buyer, BASF, with the full complement of assets, personnel, and rights needed to preserve competition in each of the 17 affected markets. It requires divestitures that go beyond what would be needed to address the current horizontal overlaps or vertical concerns in order to ensure that BASF can step into Bayer’s shoes, thereby preserving the competition that otherwise would be lost through the merger.”

Full Content:https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/crops/article/2019/01/30/federal-government-addresses-public-2

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