Below you will find a history of significant acquisitions and divestitures of the last years within the Bayer Group.
Other years: 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Business combinations and other acquisitions in fiscal 2007
Acquisition costs in 2007 amounted to €482 million. The purchase prices of the acquired companies or businesses were settled in cash. Goodwill arising on these acquisitions totaled €210 million.
In June 2006, the wholly owned subsidiary Bayer Schering GmbH acquired a majority interest in
Bayer Schering Pharma AG (at that time known as Schering AG), Berlin, Germany, which was included in full effective June 23, 2006 in the consolidated financial statements of the Bayer Group. As of December 31, 2007, Bayer Schering GmbH held 96.32 percent of the shares in Bayer Schering Pharma AG. The purchase price allocation has been completed and is virtually unchanged compared with December 31, 2006.
On May 31, 2007, Bayer CropScience signed an agreement to acquire the U.S. cotton seed producer
Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company from Monsanto for the preliminary purchase price of US$ 314 million (€232 million) including ancillary acquisition costs. This company was included in full effective June 1, 2007 in the consolidated financial statements of the Bayer Group. The goodwill remaining after the purchase price allocation is mainly attributable to technology and distribution synergies. The acquisition strengthens the position of Bayer’s BioScience business unit in the U.S. cotton seed market.
On July 1, 2007, Bayer MaterialScience completed the acquisition of the
Ure-Tech Group of Taiwan, the largest producer of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) in the Asia/Pacific region, for US$ 85 million (€63 million).
Bayer HealthCare completed the announced acquisition of a
biologics production facility in Emeryville, California, from Novartis. Bayer HealthCare will continue the production of Betaferon®/Betaseron® in Emeryville and is taking over the entire manufacturing and process technology and the facility’s employees. Novartis has received about US$ 183 million (€137 million) for the acquisition of the production facility, including the Biologics License Application (BLA), the transfer of the related equipment and inventories, and the leasing of certain buildings.
Divestitures and discontinued operations in fiscal 2007
Proceeds from divestitures in 2007 amounted to €5,421 million. The principal divestitures were as follows:
On June 29, 2006, Bayer AG concluded an agreement with Siemens AG for the latter to acquire the
diagnostics business. The Bayer Group sold this business of Bayer HealthCare to Siemens AG, Munich, in January 2007 for €4.3 billion. Transfer of the business to the acquirer was completed on January 2, 2007. An initial payment of €0.4 billion had already been received at the end of 2006.
On November 23, 2006, an agreement was concluded to divest the activities of the
H.C. Starck Group, formerly assigned to the Materials segment, to a consortium of two financial investors, Advent International and The Carlyle Group, for a purchase price of €1.2 billion less the assumption of some €0.3 billion in financial liabilities and €0.2 billion in pension obligations. Closing of the transaction took place on February 1, 2007.
An agreement was signed on December 18, 2006 to sell the companies of the
Wolff Walsrode Group, which operates principally in the field of cellulose chemistry, to The Dow Chemical Company, U.S.A., for a purchase price of €0.5 billion less the assumption of financial liabilities and pension obligations totaling about €0.1 billion. Wolff Walsrode also was formerly assigned to the Materials segment. Following approval of the transaction by the antitrust authorities, closing took place on June 30, 2007.
The diagnostics activities, H.C. Starck and Wolff Walsrode are recognized as discontinued operations in 2007.
