Wallaces Farmer

EC approves Elanco's purchase of Bayer animal health business

$7.6 billion deal announced in August 2019; expected to be completed by mid-year 2020.

June 8, 2020

2 Min Read
PaulGrecaud/Thinkstock

The European Commission has granted approval of Elanco’s pending acquisition of Bayer AG’s animal health business. The company continues to progress toward a mid-year closing, anticipated Aug. 3, 2020.

“Approval from the European Commission is an important milestone toward the completion of our acquisition of Bayer Animal Health,” said Jeff Simmons, president and CEO of Elanco.

In August 2019, Bayer announced it was selling its animal health business to Elanco Animal Health for $7.6 billion. The deal was expected to be completed by mid-2020.

The transaction combines Elanco's focus on the veterinarian with Bayer's direct-to-consumer expertise. The transaction creates a balance between the farm animal and pet businesses. It will also diversify Elanco's pet health business into the retail and e-commerce channels as Elanco continues to determine the best methods for reaching pet owners and veterinarians.

Elanco previously announced divestiture agreements in the range of $120 million to $140 million of revenue to help advance the needed regulatory reviews. The EC’s approval is conditional on several of these proposed divestitures, including:

  • Divestiture of the worldwide rights for Osurnia, a treatment for otitis externa in dogs, being sold to Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC.

  • Divestiture of the worldwide rights for Vecoxan, used for prevention and treatment of coccidiosis in calves and lambs being sold to Merck Animal Health (also known as MSD Animal Health).

  • Divestiture of European Economic Area and UK rights to the Drontal and Profender product families and related pipeline assets from Bayer Animal Health being sold to Vetoquinol SA, a French pharmaceutical company. These products are broad-spectrum de-wormers for dogs and cats.

Related:Bayer chairman Werner Wenning leaving company

In addition to EC approval, Elanco has received antitrust clearance for the transaction in China, Colombia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, and provisional clearance in Brazil. Elanco continues to cooperate with agencies in other jurisdictions. Further, Elanco fully secured financing early in the first quarter of 2020 to complete the transaction through its completed equity issuance and pricing of its Term Loan B, which will fund at deal close.

The transaction remains subject to additional regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Source: Elanco, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset. 

Related:Bayer settles false ad lawsuits

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