Bayer Sees Extra EUR700M Sales
By 05 From Ag Op Pipeline
Angela Cullen / Dow Jones Newswires 2nov00
MONHEIM, Germany -- Bayer AG (G.BAY) said Thursday it expects additional sales of EUR700 million to stem from the research pipeline at its crop protection division by 2005.
The division's research efforts will be supplemented by acquisitions such as the recent takeover of Novartis AG's (Z.NOV) Flint fungicide product line, which Bayer bought for EUR880 million.
Bayer said biotechnology partnerships will play a key role in its crop protection research, and it has earmarked some EUR200 million for collaborative projects with young biotech companies, said division head Jochen Wulff at a press conference to discuss Bayer's crop protection strategy.
Bayer plans to use genomic analysis to identify new areas of activity in plants, fungi and pests and develop test procedures that can be used to assess the efficacy of chemical substances.
Its most important biotechnology partners are Germany's Lion Bioscience AG (G.LIO) and U.S. companies Paradigm Genetics Inc. (PDGM) and Genoptera, a joint-venture between Bayer and Exelixis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Bayer's crop science business is growing faster than the overall market, said Wulff.
Last year, sales at the division grew 6.5% to EUR2.2 billion, and its global market share rose to 8.1%, said Wulff. It wasn't immediately clear what its market share had been before that.
During the first six months of 2000, sales at the division grew 21%.
Bayer is the world's fifth largest agrochemicals company behind BASF AG (G.BAS), Pharmacia Corp.'s (PHA) Monsanto, Aventis SA (AVE) and Syngenta, the new company formed by the merger of Novartis and AstraZeneca PLC's agriculture operations.
Syngenta is the new world leader, with pro forma sales last year of $6.4 billion. Aventis Crop Science had pro forma sales of $4.4 billion, Monsanto's agrochemicals had $3.8 billion, BASF generated $3.6 billion including pro forma sales from the Cyanamid acquisition earlier this year.
The Flint acquisition makes Bayer the world's second-largest fungicides producer, and it dominates the global insecticides and seed dressing markets.
Company Web site: http://www.bayer.de
