Bayer
Monsanto name left on dust heap of history
When Bayer completes its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto, which is expected to occur on Thursday, the world's largest seed and agricultural company will be named Bayer, announced the giant German company on Monday, ending speculation on the new corporate identify. "Monsanto will no longer be a company name."
DOJ approves Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto
The Department of Justice on Tuesday approved Bayer’s $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto, completing a two-year approval process for the mega-merger that spanned several countries. The combined company will be the largest agrochemical and seed company in the world with about $48 billion in annual sales.
New report shows farmers disapprove of Bayer-Monsanto merger
A new poll and report from the Konkurrenz Group found that the vast majority of farmers disapprove of the proposed merger between Bayer and Monsanto. Nearly a thousand farmers, from 48 states, responded to the poll.
Bayer in talks with BASF about its vegetable seeds business
German ag and healthcare giant Bayer said it is “in exclusive talks with BASF on the sale of its entire vegetable seeds business” as a way of gaining European approval for its takeover of Monsanto.
Amid dicamba fallout, Monsanto faces soybean challengers
Monsanto’s dominance of the market for genetically modified soybeans may soon be threatened, as competitors BASF and DowDuPont prepare to bring their versions of the seed to market.
Monsanto expects its dicamba-tolerant seeds on 40 percent of U.S. soy acres this year
The world’s largest seed and ag-chemical company said it expects U.S. farmers will plant 40 million acres of its dicamba-tolerant GMO soybeans this year, double the 2017 total and equal to four of every 10 acres of projected soybean sowings.
EU to spell out antitrust concerns in Bayer take-over of Monsanto
EU regulators are looking "very carefully" at competition issues in Bayer's proposed purchase of Monsanto to make sure farmers will have a choice of products at affordable prices, said Bloomberg. The wire service said Bayer, based in Germany, was to receive a so-called statement of objections as soon as this week, which could lead the companies to offer a package of concessions.
Key U.S. panel sees no national security barriers to Bayer takeover of Monsanto
A special review panel of U.S. officials "has concluded there are no unresolved national security concerns" in the proposed purchase by German chemical giant Bayer of St. Louis-based Monsanto for $66 billion. "Bayer and Monsanto will continue to cooperate with the authorities in order to complete the transaction in early 2018," said a terse joint statement by the companies.
Insecticide a threat to migrating songbirds, says study
Research by the University of Saskatchewan provides “the first direct evidence that neonicotinoids can harm songbirds and their migration,” said the Guardian, by causing the birds to lose weight and their sense of direction.
Monsanto shareholders approve Bayer takeover
The $57 billion purchase of Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer has the approval of Monsanto shareholders by a three-to-one vote, said the St. Louis-based company after a special meeting. Chief executive Hugh Grant said he was confident of U.S. antitrust approval of the deal, creating a seed and agricultural chemical behemoth.
To ease merger, Bayer expects to sell some of its seed business
Pesticide companies tried to keep their honeybee studies secret
Pesticide manufacturers Syngenta and Bayer appear to have secreted away studies that showed their pesticides did serious harm to honeybees, rather than revealing the results to the public. After Greenpeace obtained the studies from the EPA through the Freedom of Information Act, scientists are calling on the two companies to operate with more transparency, says The Guardian.
Montana senator calls for rejection of Bayer-Monsanto merger
In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Montana Sen. Jon Tester says the government should deny on antitrust grounds Bayer's proposed $66 billion purchase of Monsanto, given that it would result in a company controlling nearly 30 percent of the world's seed market and a quarter of pesticide sales.
U.S. farm groups tell Senate they can support big ag mergers
Since World War Two, the U.S. food supply has come from a network of fewer but larger farms. And the groups representing those highly mechanized operations told the Senate Judiciary Committee that they could accept, with sufficient safeguards, mergers that would convert the six largest seed and agricultural chemical companies into a "big three."
Ag-merger wave looks like a ‘tsunami,’ says Senate Judiciary chairman
The seed and ag-chemical industry "is seemingly on the precipice of a significant structural transformation," says Senate Judiciary chairman Charles Grassley in remarks written for today's hearing on consolidation in the sector. Five of the "big six" companies are involved in mergers while two Canadian companies are combining to form the world's largest fertilizer company.
Antitrust regulators are collaborating on ag-merger wave
Ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on consolidation in the seed and ag chemical sector, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission say they will consider the combined impact of mergers as well as the import of each deal. If they go forward, the mergers would result in three dominant companies in the sector instead of the current six.
Bayer to buy Monsanto for $66 billion in a giant deal for seeds and ag chemicals
Two of the largest seed and agricultural chemical companies of the world, Bayer and Monsanto, will combine in a deal valued at $66 billion. Monsanto chief executive Hugh Grant said the merger, in which Bayer buys Monsanto for cash, will result in "an innovation engine that pairs Bayer’s crop protection portfolio with our world-class seeds and traits and digital agriculture tools to help growers overcome the obstacles of tomorrow."
U.S. panel examines ag consolidation, as Bayer-Monsanto eye merger
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley set a Sept. 20 hearing to examine consolidation in the seed and agricultural chemical sector at the same time that another blockbuster merger seemed imminent. "If these mergers go through, you'd have a 'big three' instead of a 'big six' dominating the market," Grassley told reporters.
House farm bill would shield Bayer from Roundup lawsuits
Tucked into the horticulture section of the farm bill approved by the House Agriculture Committee is language shielding seed and ag chemical giant Bayer from lawsuits against its Roundup weedkiller. Section 10204, running one-and-a-half pages, amounts to a "Get out of jail free" card for pesticide companies, according to an avowed guardian of victims' rights.