Bayer has acquired Monsanto, maker of the controversial weedkiller Roundup. Picture: BLOOMBERG/DANIEL ACKER
In documents posted on the company’s website on Monday, the non-executive supervisory board said an expert opinion it commissioned from law firm Linklaters found that Bayer’s management had complied with their duties when acquiring Monsanto for $63bn last year. Bayer shares have lost more than 35% of their value, equivalent to about €33bn in market capitalisation, since August, when a US jury found Bayer liable because its Monsanto unit did not warn of Roundup’s alleged cancer risks. It suffered a similar courtroom defeat last month.
CEO Werner Baumann, who broke cover on his pursuit of Monsanto within weeks of taking the top job in 2016, has said in newspaper interviews that he enjoys the backing of the supervisory board. The supervisory board in Germany’s two-tier corporate board system has to sign off on larger transactions and Bayer’s non-executive chair Werner Wenning backed the Monsanto deal throughout, according to sources familiar with the matter.