The turf business enjoys the reputation of being a small group of players where everybody pretty much knows everybody else. That tight-knit is about to get a little cozier with today's news that the part of Bayer's portfolio that includes its turf and ornamental business is officially up for sale.
The company announced today its intent to divest the professional arm of its Environmental Science business, a division of Bayer Crop Science. In an industry where the agri-chemical side is dominated by a few companies, the chances are pretty good the eventual buyer will already be intimately aware of the golf turf business and the needs of superintendents.
The decision to divest Bayer Environmental Science includes its professional turf and ornamental business, but does not include the segment's agricultural or commercial units, which are among its most profitable divisions. In fact, the company's Crop Science division plans to focus heavily on growing its presence in the agriculture industry. To help drive growth in the division's most important commercial region, Bayer named Jacqueline Applegate, Ph.D., currently head of Environmental Science's vegetable seeds business, to lead the Crop Science North America region effective March 1.
In addition, Bayer appointed Gilles Galliou, currently head of commercial operations for Bayer Vegetable Seeds Americas, to lead the Environmental Science business through the planned divestment. The global Environmental Science business will move from Germany and be headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, effective June 1.
A spokesperson for Bayer said the sale is not related to the company's ongoing efforts to settle thousands of lawsuits each blaming glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer's Roundup herbicide, for causing cancer.
A spokesperson for Bayer said the sale is not related to the company's ongoing efforts to settle thousands of lawsuits each blaming glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer's Roundup herbicide, for causing cancer.
Bayer acquired Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, in 2018. Shortly after the acquisition, Bayer began answering charges filed by litigants that Roundup was responsible for causing their non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released studies indicating that Roundup was safe if used according to label instructions. The courts, however, sided with those who cited World Health Organization data and a document known as the Zhang paper that merely state glyphosate could be a carcinogen. Since then, the world's most popular weed killer has been the target of countless lawsuits, and Bayer has agreed to settle thousands of them for $11 billion.
Bayer Environmental Science Professional had sales in 2020 of more than $700 million.
No interested buyers have been identified yet, and there is no official timeline for a sale. Even when a deal is reached, such mergers are subject to regulatory review and can take several months to complete. Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto, announced in 2016, took two years to complete.