Bayer may have to sell assets to pay for Roundup cancer suits

Bayer CEO Werner Baumann and outgoing chair Werner Wenning . Picture: REUTERS/WOLFGANG RATTAY

Bayer, which insists that Roundup is safe, says it’s too early to determine whether any of the worst-case scenarios described in the report will materialise. The company has “quite a solid balance sheet” to cover the growing costs of its legal troubles, CEO Werner Baumann said. Bayer is now facing 48,600 US plaintiffs, up from 42,700 in October, the company said as it reported full-year earnings. A surge could derail the settlement talks.

The possible measures cited in the annual report could result from compensatory and punitive damages awarded to plaintiffs or from out-of-court settlements, the company said. It’s unlikely that Bayer will need to raise a large amount of money for this, CFO Wolfgang Nickl said in an interview Thursday.

Baader Bank’s Mayer expects a settlement before the next shareholder meeting at the end of April. Baumann declined to comment on the talks on Thursday.The company’s growth forecast for this year fell short of estimates. Core earnings per share will probably increase to between €7 and €7.20 in 2020, Bayer said in a statement. That compares with an average estimate of €7.34 from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

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