BASF Reportedly Bids For Bayer's Seed Assets

(RTTNews) - BASF SE (BAYZF.PK), the German maker of herbicides, is bidding for a package of seed and chemical assets that Bayer AG (BAYZF.PK, BAYRY.PK, BYR.L) needs to divest as part of its planned $66 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto Co., Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Bayer is required to divest parts of its business as condition for the acquisition of Mosanto.

DowDuPont Inc. and Syngenta AG also are said to be competing for Bayer's canola, cotton and soybean seed varieties, as well as the Liberty herbicide system.

BASF reportedly is forced to rethink its previous decision to shun seeds amid the $160 billion wave of consolidation sweeping the agrochemical industry, the report noted. The $66 billion creation of DowDuPont Inc. and Bayer's Monsanto takeover are creating integrated seed and agrochemical giants.

As per the report, BASF sees Bayer's antitrust-driven asset sales as a way into the seed market at this late stage.

Until recently, BASF's strategy has been to focus on the firm's core expertise in chemistry, and was sticking to developing fungicides and crop-protection chemicals. However, Chief Technology Officer Martin Brudermueller reportedly said in June that the company was looking to see whether seeds makes sense.

It was in September last year that Bayer said it agreed to buy Monsanto for $128 per share in an all-cash transaction. In December, Monsanto shareholders approved merger, which is expected to close by the end of 2017.

As per the report, Bayer has added soy to the assets it is divesting to help persuade regulators that competition in that industry would be protected.