German chemical company BASF said Wednesday that it has completed its takeover of several key business units from pharmaceutical giant Bayer, including biotech and crop protection.
The sale of those parts was an important condition for Bayer's merger with US agrochemical giant Monsanto and had to be approved by the European Commission. The divestment package was meant to remove overlaps between the two companies in the areas of seeds, pesticides and digital agriculture to ensure fair competition in the market.
BASF had signed agreements in October 2017 and April 2018 over acquiring the business and assets Bayer had offered to sell. The purchase price, according to BASF, was 7.6 billion euros (8.8 billion dollars). BASF will also take on Bayer's roughly 4,500 employees.
Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto creates the world's largest integrated pesticide and seed company. The acquisition is the largest ever made by a German company abroad.
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