Bayer plans to sell off one of its crop protection brands to appease antitrust regulators reviewing its proposed merger with U.S. rival Monsanto.
Reuters reports that regulators in South Africa required that the German chemical and pharmaceutical giant to divest its Liberty brand of herbicides and LibertyLink seed traits.
The system — both the herbicide and seeds modified to resist it — competes with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide and Roundup Ready seeds.
The announcement was Bayer's first official acknowledgement that it would need to sell those brands to complete the merger. A previous report suggested that the companies were preparing some $2.5 billion in divestitures.
South Africa is a small market for the two global industry giants, but regulators in the U.S. and European Union were likely to impose similar requirements. Bayer indicated that it hopes to close on the merger by the end of the year.
"Bayer has agreed to these conditions and is evaluating how best to execute the imposed divestiture," the company told Reuters in a statement.
