KWS Renews Offer for Bayer's Vegetable Seed Business

   By Nathan Allen

German plant breeder KWS Saat SE (KWS.XE) said Tuesday that it has made a non-binding offer for Bayer AG's (BAYN.XE) Nunhems vegetable-seed business, renewing a bid it submitted in January and gatecrashing BASF's offer for the unit.

KWS didn't specify a price but said it had offered "attractive terms and conditions" to Bayer and its shareholders.

In April Bayer committed to selling off $7 billion in assets, including the vegetable-seed business, to rival BASF SE (BAS.XE) to gain EU approval for its proposed takeover of Monsanto Co. (MON).

KWS, which focuses on agricultural crops, said Nunhems would be a "strategically sensible complement" to its existing portfolio.

"If Nunhems were acquired by KWS, the agricultural sector, farmers and consumers alike would benefit from the sale to an independent seed company without an agrochemicals division," KWS said.

The company employs nearly 5,000 people in 70 countries and in fiscal 2017 posted earnings before interest and taxes of 132 million euros ($153.9 million) on sales of EUR1.08 billion.

Write to Nathan Allen at nathan.allen@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2018 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT)

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