WASHINGTON (AP) - German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has agreed to the U.S. government's demand it sell approximately $9 billion in agriculture businesses as condition for acquiring Monsanto Co., a U.S. seed and weed-killer maker.
Antitrust regulators at the Justice Department said it's the biggest divestiture ever required for a merger. The regulators say they directed Bayer to divest assets such as vegetable oils, seeds and seed treatments to ensure fair competition in the market after the massive agriculture business deal goes through. The assets will be sold to BASF, a German chemical company.
Bayer's $57 billion takeover of Monsanto has been watched by competitors and environmental groups, which are fearful that the number of players in the business of selling seeds and pesticides will shrink further and give a single company an exclusive grip on the food chain.
Monsanto, based in St. Louis, is one of the world's biggest seed companies. The merger would make Bayer the largest supplier in the world of pesticides and seeds for farmers.
The divestiture proposal will be filed in federal court and opened to public comment for 60 days.
In March, the European Union approved the merger on condition that Bayer sell $7.4 billion in assets to BASF to eliminate overlaps in seed and pesticide markets. The U.S. Justice Department said after the European action that it continued to have concerns over the proposed merger, especially its potential impact on American farmers and consumers, which could differ from its effects in Europe. Genetically modified seeds, for example, are used widely in the U.S. but mostly banned in Europe.