The agricultural chemicals and pharmaceuticals group Bayer is selling its veterinary pharmaceuticals division to the U.S. company Elanco for USD 7.6 billion (EUR 6.85 billion). (picture alliance/dpa)
Bayer is selling its veterinary drug segment to US company Elanco for 7.6 billion dollars, the German pharmaceuticals giant said on Tuesday.
Bayer hopes to use the sale to curb the debt it has incurred due to the takeover of US firm Monsanto, which has also brought along a host of lawsuits against the weedkiller Roundup, which contains the potentially harmful chemical glyphosate.
The segment, Animal Health, is Bayer's smallest business branch, with around 3,700 employees working in the German cities of Dusseldorf and Kiel and in Shawnee in the United States. In 2018, the segment made 1.5 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) in revenue.
Bayer said in its 2018 business report that the veterinary segment was profitable, as the number of pet owners had increased amid population growth and an increase in average incomes.
Elanco once belonged to the US pharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly, and now has 5,600 employees and an annual revenue of 3.1 billion dollars. The company made headlines in 2015 when it bought the animal health segment of Swiss company Novartis.
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