CHINA CONDITIONALLY

China conditionally approves Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto

Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

BEIJING (Reuters) - Bayer’s (BAYGn.DE) on Tuesday secured conditional approval from China’s commerce ministry for its planned acquisition of the world No. 1 seed company Monsanto (MON.N), chalking up a victory in the onerous struggle to win over watchdogs across the globe.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Bayer AG is pictured at the Bayer Healthcare subgroup production plant in Wuppertal, Germany February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender/File Photo

The ministry also ordered the German drug and crop chemicals maker to spin off some businesses globally, including vegetable seeds, corn, soybean, cotton, and herbicide, according to a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

Bayer has already pledged to sell certain seed and herbicide assets for 5.9 billion euros ($7.27 billion) to BASF (BASFn.DE) to address EU regulatory concerns and has separately offered to sell its vegetable seeds business to BASF.