Bayer CEO wins first AGM shareholder vote

By Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Bayer CEO Bill Anderson on Friday won a vote of confidence at his first annual general meeting (AGM) at the helm of the embattled healthcare and agriculture group, defying a challenge from one German fund managing house.

The group said investors with 91.69% of the equity capital represented at the AGM voted in favour of him and his top management team.

Mutual funds firm Deka Investment said earlier on Friday it would not join other large investors in ratifying last year's conduct and actions of the group's executive board, saying Anderson needs to focus more on share price performance.

Such a vote, which prominently wraps up every German AGM, is largely symbolic because it has no bearing on management's liability or tenure. But it is treated as a key gauge of investor sentiment.

Two other larger German mutual fund management houses, DWS and Union Investment, had said they would vote for the management board while shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had also come out in support.

At the AGM, CEO Anderson stood by his decision in March to suspend for up to three years any preparations to break apart the German maker of pharmaceuticals, crop protection products and consumer health remedies.

Anderson, who became CEO in June 2023, has had a tumultuous start with a continued wave of U.S. litigation about an alleged cancer-causing effect of weedkiller glyphosate and a major setback in drug development late last year.

The shares have lost about 47% since he took over.

"We don't regard Mr Anderson's start as successful. We would have wished for more of a focus on aspects that are relevant for the share price," Deka's head of sustainability and corporate governance Ingo Speich said in a speech.

Anderson said he would seek to boost drug development, while also tackling litigation, debt and excessive corporate bureaucracy.

"The soul of this company is alive and well," he said, adding that he would work hard to address shareholders' frustration over the falling share price.

Harris Associates, another major Bayer shareholder, has told Reuters it strongly supports Anderson, including his decision to suspend work on breaking up the group.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Additional Reporting by Sarah Marsh; editing by Friederike Heine, Alexander Smith and Louise Heavens)