Official: Bayer sues Russian antitrust over Monsanto merger

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (PRIME) -- Germany’s Bayer has filed a suit against Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service as part of a U.S. $66 billion merger with U.S. company Monsanto, the service’s Director Igor Artemyev said on Tuesday at a meeting with deputies of the United Russia ruling party.

“We are going to have the first court hearing with them now, they filed (the suit) last week saying that they are ready to reject the deal on the territory of Russia and to leave the country completely,” he said.

Bayer plans to close the purchase of Monsanto in February. In November 2017, the service said the deal may lead to domination of the merged company on all the relevant Russian markets and creation of high entry barriers for other companies. The service set some behavioral remedies for the deal, including a demand to share their technologies for selection and digital agriculture.

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