Several well-known farm chemicals will have new owners within the next
few months.
Bayer AG has been ordered by the federal competition bureau to sell
five of its patented active ingredients, including several products
used by prairie farmers.
The bureau’s order was prompted by Bayer’s pending acquisition of
Aventis CropScience and is in line with similar orders implemented in
Europe and the United States.
A senior competition bureau official said the divestitures are required
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“We’re acting to protect the farmers’ interests, so they don’t pay
higher prices and they continue to have product choices,” said Robert
Lancop, assistant deputy commissioner of competition.
Lancop said Bayer’s acquisition of Aventis CropScience would have
resulted in a “substantial prevention or lessening” of competition if
left unchecked.
The list of products which must be sold was negotiated between the
bureau and Bayer. European and U.S. regulators were also involved.
The list includes:
- Triticonazole, a seed treatment for cereal grains sold under the
brand name Charter.
- Acetamiprid, a seed treatment for canola that carries the product
name Assail ST. Acetamiprid is also sold as an insecticide for fruits
and vegetables under the name Assail.
- Iprodione, a seed treatment for canola that carries the brand name
Foundation Lite.
- Flucarbazone, a grassy weeds herbicide for wheat sold under the
product name Everest.
Bayer has six months to sell the active ingredients to another
manufacturer.
“We believe these products have very high commercial value,” said
Lancop. “There’s no minimum price, so we’re confident they will sell.”
If they aren’t sold, a “crown jewel” provision will kick in, whereby a
trustee will be assigned by the bureau to oversee the sale of other
assets of greater value than those listed in the initial order. Those
assets would include a winter wheat herbicide called Olympus and the
manufacturing plant where it is produced in Kansas City.
“The idea is to create a tremendous incentive for them to actually
complete the initial divestiture,” said Lancop.
Steve Meister, director of communications for Aventis CropScience, said
there should be no problem selling the products, which he described as
very valuable.
“We negotiated as well as we could to continue selling them and we’re
disappointed not to have those products in the Bayer portfolio,” he
said. “But we have fully agreed to it and will support it in the
marketplace.”
Bayer is also required to set up independent, specially monitored
management systems for the listed products until they have been sold.
The new owners will close the Aventis CropScience head office in Regina
and move the employees to Calgary. Aventis’ manufacturing plant in
Regina will remain in business, as will its plant breeding and research
operations in Saskatoon.
