Bayer welcomes ruling against BASF claim on seed businesses

BERLIN (Reuters) -Bayer on Friday welcomed a decision by an arbitration court to dismiss a claim by BASF that it overpaid for assets sold by Bayer to secure antitrust clearance for the takeover of Monsanto.

"Bayer provided adequate information on the cost structure of the seeds businesses acquired by BASF in August 2018 and did not breach any contractual obligations. This has now also been confirmed by the arbitral tribunal," Bayer said.

BASF said it was disappointed that the arbitral tribunal did not follow its arguments.

BASF in 2019 took Bayer to an arbitration court, claiming that Bayer had not fully disclosed personnel costs when it negotiated the sale of two assets bundles.

To secure the eventual antitrust clearance for Bayer's 2018 takeover of Monsanto, Bayer in 2017 agreed to sell certain seed and herbicide assets for 5.9 billion euros ($6.02 billion) to BASF, followed by the sale of its global vegetable seeds business, certain seed treatments and digital farming activities for up to 1.7 billion euros.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, editing by Rachel More)