Bayer welcomes BASF ruling on seed trade claim

The Bayer AG logo is seen in front of the historic headquarters of the German pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer in Leverkusen, Germany, April 27, 2020. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rathai/File photo

BERLIN, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Bayer ( BAYGn.DE ) on Friday welcomed a decision by an arbitration court to reject claims by BASF ( BASFn.DE ) that it overpaid for antitrust approval to take assets sold by Bayer. Monsanto

Bayer has provided adequate information on the cost structure of the seed businesses acquired by the BSF in August 2018 and has not breached any contractual obligations. This has now been confirmed by the arbitral tribunal.

BASF said it was disappointed that the arbitral tribunal did not pursue its arguments.

BASF took Bayer to arbitration in 2019 after Bayer failed to fully disclose labor costs when negotiating to sell two asset bundles.

In 2017, Bayer agreed to sell certain seed and herbicide assets to BASF for 5.9 billion euros ($6.02 billion) to secure eventual antitrust approval for its 2018 takeover of Monsanto, followed by its global vegetable seeds business, certain seed treatments and digital farming activities for up to 1.7 billion. Euro.

Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, editing by Rachel More

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