Bayer has agreed to sell a unit that makes pest-control chemicals for landscape and facility management to private equity group Cinven for $2.6 billion in a bid to cut debt and focus its crop science business on its core agricultural customer base.
The business is part of Bayer’s agricultural division, named Environmental Science Professional, and is dedicated to controlling pests and weeds in non-agricultural fields such as forestry. Rodrigo Santos, president of Bayer’s Crop Science division, said the sale of the business would allow Bayer to focus more on its core agricultural business and implement its growth strategy.
The successful sale of the business is good news for Bayer. The company is still paying for its $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto in 2018, which made the Roundup herbicide facing tens of thousands of cancer-causing lawsuits in the United States.
