From a company press release

“On Tuesday, Bayer obtained conditional approval from the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for the proposed acquisition of Monsanto. “Receipt of the DOJ’s approval brings us close to our goal of creating a leading company in agriculture,” said Bayer CEO Werner Baumann. “We want to help farmers across the world grow more nutritious food in a more sustainable way.” Bayer has now obtained almost all clearances which are conditions for closing the transaction. The company expects to receive any outstanding approvals required for completing the transaction very shortly.

Bayer will become the sole shareholder of Monsanto Company following the receipt of outstanding approvals. According to the DOJ’s conditional approval, the integration of Monsanto into Bayer can take place as soon as the divestments to BASF have been accomplished. This is expected to be in approximately two months.

Both are Active in  Agtech Investment Space 

Along with Syngenta, Bayer and Monsanto have been active players in the agtech startup scene, with Bayer most notably partnering with Boston-based bioagtech company Gingko BioWorks to found Joyn Bio, with the goal of applying advanced techniques in synthetic biology to agriculture to reduce the environmental impact of nitrogen fertilizer. The original deal provided a Series A investment of $100 million by the parent companies and Viking Global Investors LP.

Monsanto, meanwhile, made news with a pair of CRISPR-related deals: a $100 million technology collaboration with California-based agtech startup Pairwise Plants that will see Monsanto accessing and developing Pairwise IP in row crop applications; and a research deal with St. Louis-based startup RNAgri, whose RNA interference (RNAi) technology can result in decreased production of a protein to achieve a desirable physiological outcome or trait.

By David Nitchman, GAI Media