Higher Antitrust Hurdles for Bayer-Monsanto?
Bayer’s plans to take over Monsanto may face higher antitrust hurdles than the company acknowledges, the US newspaper St Louis Dispatch, published in Monsanto’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, says.
Pairing remarks by Bayer that it has a successful track record of working with global authorities to secure the necessary regulatory approvals with Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant’s remarks that Bayer’s offer is incomplete, the newspaper interprets Grant’s remarks to mean he believes the German group is being “too glib” about its ability to push the deal through.
The paper suggests also the US player may be angling for a breakup fee, should the acquisition run afoul of regulatory authorities.
It also quotes unnamed “antitrust experts” as saying Bayer is “glossing over some very real issues,” such as the fact that the two companies have the first- and second-ranked cotton seed brands in the US, with Bayer having acquired the cotton business Monsanto was obliged to divest in exchange for antitrust approval of another deal.
Another concern is said to be that Bayer’s Liberty herbicide program (acquired in the takeover of Aventis Crop Science) combined with its Liberty Link corn, soybean and canola seed franchise, are the most direct competitors of Monsanto’s Roundup program.
At the very least, the paper’s sources moot, “regulators may force Bayer to sell its cotton business, a herbicide-seed pairing and a line of vegetable seeds.
