BASF Comments on $7 Billion Bayer Product and R&D Purchase

Less than a week after announcing a large buyout, BASF is revealing details of its plan to buy a large chunk of Bayer’s seed tech business. This transaction will launch BASF into the business of selling crop seed for the first time.

This sale has a price tag of $7 billion, and the major attraction for BASF is the LibertyLink system, both the seeds and chemistry.

BASF will gain 1,800 Bayer employees, and 700 of them reside in North America. 81 Bayer sites will transfer into the hands of BASF, including the Research Triangle Park Location in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Paul Rae, BASF’s head of North American Business says even though the company will sell cotton, canola and soybean seeds for the first time, Bayer’s business compliments BASF’s current pipeline.

“We’ve had an existing and successful traits business for many years, and we’ve had a strong seed treatment business,” said Rae in a teleconference Wednesday. “[It’s] important to recognize that we have been active in the seed industry in a different way.”