MON Monsanto Company (delisted)

By Brent Kendall 

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department granted antitrust approval Tuesday to Bayer AG's planned acquisition of Monsanto Co., after requiring the company to sell off about $9 billion in assets in order to preserve competition.

The department said the divestitures agreed to by Bayer are the largest ever in a U.S. merger-approval settlement. Rival BASF SE is buying the assets.

Under the settlement, Bayer agreed to divest assets including its cotton, canola, soybean and vegetable seed businesses, as well as Bayer's Liberty herbicide business, which has been a competitor to Monsanto's Roundup product. Bayer also is selling off some intellectual property and research-and-development capabilities.

The Justice Department said that without the divestitures, the merger, valued at more than $60 billion, would have suppressed competition for an array of seed and crop protection products, leading to higher prices and few choices. Those harms have been addressed by the settlement, the department said.

Germany's Bayer, a pharmaceutical and chemical conglomerate, is a leading player in the pesticide industry, while Monsanto, based in St. Louis, is a market leader in seeds and crop genes. The deal, which was announced in September 2016, would make Bayer the world's biggest supplier of pesticides and seeds for farmers.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Justice Department and the companies had reached an agreement that would allow approval of the merger.

The companies also have won antitrust approval from the European Union after pledging similar asset sales.

Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2018 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)

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