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Bayer CEO confident of Monsanto acquisition being completed this year

Bayer CEO Werner Baumann says he’s confident the company’s $57 billion acquisition of Monsanto will overcome regulatory obstacles and close by the end of the year.  That’s despite delays with antitrust authorities in the U.S. and Europe.

A Dow Jones story says the U.S. Justice Department and European Commission have each asked Bayer for additional information.  Baumann calls the requests normal.

Bayer’s planned acquisition of Monsanto is happening amid a wave of consolidation in agriculture chemical businesses.  Mergers between Dow and DuPont, as well as ChemChina and Syngenta are also under regulatory review in the U.S. and Europe.  Those deals are further along in the regulatory process, and experts say decisions on them could influence what regulators think of the pending Bayer bid for Monsanto.