Other years: 2008 2007 2006 2005 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
In 2004 a total of €358 million was spent on acquisitions, translated at the exchange rates in effect on the respective acquisition dates.
Significant Acquisitions in fiscal 2004
Effective March 22, 2004 we acquired the remaining interest in the seed treatment business of Gustafson in the United States, Canada and Mexico from Crompton Corporation for €100 million. Bayer CropScience already held a 50 percent interest in the U.S. and Canadian Gustafson joint ventures headquartered in Plano, Texas, and Calgary, Alberta. Gustafson manufactures and markets seed treatment products and related technical equipment.
In connection with the acquisition of the
Roche Consumer Health business, Bayer HealthCare LLC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, acquired on December 29, 2004 Roche’s 50 percent interest in the Bayer-Roche OTC joint venture in the United States that was established in 1996. The purchase price for the 50 percent equity interest plus additional plant and inventories was €208 million.
Bilag Industries Private Ltd., India, a joint venture with the Indian company Bilakhias, acquired 6 percent of its own shares on February 17, 2004, and a further 10 percent on April 8, 2004, from Bilakhias as part of its buy-back plan. The total purchase price was €29 million. Following closing of both transactions, Bayer CropScience S.A., France, now holds 91 percent of the shares of Bilag Industries Private Ltd.
Significant Divestitures in fiscal 2004
On January 30, 2004 Bayer CropScience sold the rights to GA 21, a technology for herbicide tolerance in corn, to Syngenta International AG, Basel, Switzerland.
On July 14, 2004 Bayer divested its 15 percent equity interest in
KWS Saat AG, acquired through the purchase of Aventis CropScience in 2002, to private investors Tessner Beteiligungs GmbH and Dr. Arend Oetker to fulfil a contractual commitment made by the Bayer Group in connection with the acquisition of the Aventis CropScience group.
The acquisition of the Frankfurt-based textile dyes business
DyStar by the global financial investor Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, California, was completed on August 5, 2004. All the shares held by the previous owners Bayer (35 percent),Hoechst (35 percent) and BASF (30 percent) were transferred to Platinum Equity. DyStar, the world’s premier supplier of dyes and services for the textile industry, was established in 1995 by Bayer and Hoechst and expanded in 2000 to include the textile dyes operations of BASF.
