Bayer obtained conditional approval from the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for the proposed acquisition of Monsanto, a US$ 66 deal. Bayer will become the sole shareholder of Monsanto Company following the receipt of outstanding approvals to become the leading company in agriculture. The company expects to receive outstanding approvals from Mexico and Canada required for completing the transaction shortly.

According to the DOJ’s conditional approval, the integration of Monsanto into Bayer can take place as soon as the divestments to BASF have been accomplished. This is expected to be in approximately two months. Bayer had already committed to selling businesses with a turnover of 2.2 billion euros for a total of 7.6 billion euros to BASF. This includes its business with cotton, soybean and vegetable seeds as well as the digital farming activities. According to Reuters, also German KWS Saat has made a non-binding offer for Bayer’s vegetable seed business, which operates under the name Nunhems.

For Bayer, this is the largest acquisition in the company’s history. In addition, it is the most expensive acquisition of a German company so far.

• Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany