MOSCOW (MRC) -- German drugs and pesticides group Bayer has further reduced its holding in Covestro to 31.5% from 40.9% by selling 19 million shares in the plastics business for a total of EUR1.2 billion (USD1.4 billion), as per the company's press release.
It said on Wednesday that it placed the stock at EUR63.25 each, a 3.7% discount to Tuesday’s closing share price, which DZ Bank analyst Peter Spengler said indicated healthy demand for the stock.
Bayer, which is trying to wrap up the USD66 billion takeover of U.S. seeds giant Monsanto by the end of the year, had announced the accelerated book building late on Tuesday, part of its plan to fully sever ties with Covestro over the medium-term.
It has agreed to hold off for 90 days on placing more shares in Covestro, which it spun off as a listed company two years ago. Bayer’s pension trust separately holds 8.9 percent of Covestro.
Barclays and Citigroup acted as joint bookrunners for the placement, which was aimed at institutional investors.
As MRC reported earlier, on 1 September, 2015, Bayer MaterialScience became known as Covestro. The plans for the carve-out of Bayer MaterialScience were announced in September 2014.
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech polymer materials. As an innovation company, it sets trends in research-intensive areas. Bayer's products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen.
Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.
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