Bayer Considers Dropping Monsanto Name to Avoid 'Sullying Its Reputation'

Bayer Considers Dropping Monsanto Name to Avoid 'Sullying Its Reputation' September 20, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

LEVERKUSEN, Germany – What’s in a name? A potential headache and the cure for aspirin-making company Bayer may be to drop the Monsanto name if the $66 billion merger goes through in order to “avoid sullying its reputation,” Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Monsanto, best known as being the maker of Roundup, has been the source of a number of protests over the years due to its genetically modified seeds and fallout from its herbicide Agent Orange, which was widely used in the Vietnam War and is believed to be a factor in a number of diseases in veterans exposed to the poison. If the Monsanto moniker is dropped, the products could be sold under the Bayer CropScience name, Bloomberg said. Werner Baumann, Bayer’s chief executive officer, said at a question and answer session that there is an opportunity, especially in Europe, to build on Bayer’s brand reputation and trust, Bloomberg reported. And apparently, dropping the name would not be an issue for Hugh Grant (THAT Hugh Grant) Monsanto’s chief executive officer. Bloomberg reported Grant said he as flexible and the key is “less about the name and more about the products developed.”

Before the Monsanto name can even be dropped, the companies have to pass several major hurdles before a merger could be approved. There are questions as to whether or not the merger will even go through due to serious concerns about the amount of agribusiness the new entity will control. The new entity will control about 58 percent of seed sales in the United States alone, according to the Denver Post, and about 25 percent globally. The new company will also control about 25 percent of the world’s pesticide sales, the Post reported, citing Vox. Looking at the Bayer-Monsanto marriage in those terms shows how one company could control how the world feeds itself, the Post notes. That could be a big reason regulators in the United States and the European Union to reject the proposed merger. Analysts at Bernstein Research told Reuters they believe there is a good chance the deal may not go through, with estimates of 30 to 50 percent that regulatory bodies will deny the acquisition. In addition to regulators, there could be a pushback against the deal from farmers, as well as some political activists who have protested Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds.

Because of the sheer volume of control a Bayer-Monsanto merger would wield, there has been opposition to the merger, by celebrities and farming families, worried about increased prices and, of course, the spread of genetically modified seeds. Although governments have ruled the consumption of foods grown from genetically modified seeds are safe, there is a grassroots movement challenging the notion.

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