The Ministry of Commerce approves Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto with 4 conditions

The Ministry of Commerce recently issued an announcement stating that after consulting relevant government departments, industry associations, downstream customers and industry experts, it has decided to conditionally approve Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto
.
Public information shows that Bayer and Monsanto are engaged in non-selective herbicides, cabbage seeds, cucumber seeds, pepper seeds, carrot seeds after cutting and processing, long-day onion seeds, large fruit tomato seeds, corn traits, soybean traits, cotton traits, rapeseed There is horizontal overlap in 12 commodity markets including traits and digital agriculture
.
There is a vertical relationship in the three commodity markets of corn seed bactericidal coating agent, corn seed insecticidal coating agent and hybrid corn seed
.
According to the provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law, the Ministry of Commerce shall consider the market concentration of the relevant market, the market share of the operators participating in the concentration and the control of the market, the impact on market entry and technological progress, and the impact on consumers and other With regard to the impact of operators, we have deeply analyzed the impact of this concentration of operators on market competition, and believes that this concentration will have an impact on China’s non-selective herbicide market.
China’s long-day onion seeds, carrot seeds, and large fruits are sold through cutting and processing.
Vegetable seed markets such as tomato seeds, global corn, soybean, cotton, rapeseed trait markets, and digital agriculture markets have or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition
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In view of the fact that the operators are concentrated in the non-selective herbicide market in China, the vegetable seed market such as China's long-day onion seeds, carrot seeds, and tomato seeds after cutting and processing, the global corn, soybean, cotton, rapeseed trait market and digital agriculture The market has or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition.
According to the final draft of the restrictive conditions proposed by the declaration to the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Commerce decided to approve the concentration with additional restrictive conditions, requiring Bayer, Monsanto and the post-concentration entities to perform the following obligations: First, to divest Bayer's vegetable seed business on a global scale, the divestiture includes related facilities, personnel, intellectual property rights (including patents, know-how and trademarks) and other tangible and intangible assets
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Second, to divest Bayer's non-selective herbicide business (glufosinate ammonium business) on a global scale, including related facilities, personnel, intellectual property rights (including patents, know-how and trademarks) and other tangible and intangible assets
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Third, it divested Bayer's corn, soybean, cotton, and rape traits businesses globally, including related facilities, personnel, intellectual property rights (including patents, know-how, and trademarks), and other tangible and intangible assets
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Fourth, within 5 years from the date when the commercial digital agricultural products of Bayer, Monsanto, and post-concentration entities enter the Chinese market, based on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, all agricultural software application developers in China are allowed to use their digital agricultural software applications.
The program is connected to the digital agriculture platform used by Bayer, Monsanto and the centralized entity in China, allowing all users in China to register to use Bayer, Monsanto, and the digital agriculture product or application of the centralized entity
.