persistent criticism
Bayer boss Baumann resigns prematurely
2/8/2023 5:31 p.m
Bayer boss Baumann has been under pressure for months. The reason for this is the ongoing problems caused by the takeover of glyphosate manufacturer Monsanto. Several shareholders are calling for his resignation. Now the DAX group has struck gold with the pharmaceutical giant Roche.
The chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer is getting a new boss: The current CEO Werner Baumann is retiring at the end of May after 35 years of service and will be replaced by Bill Anderson in June, as the company announced in Leverkusen. Anderson is expected to join the company as a member of the board as early as April and will then work closely with Baumann to “ensure a smooth transition.” Baumann’s contract was originally supposed to run until April 30, 2024.
The new appointment is the result of a comprehensive selection process that was initiated in the middle of last year, as the DAX group further announced. The group is thus drawing consequences from the ongoing criticism of Baumann – most recently from shareholders. Most recently, the two major German fund companies Union Investment and Deka had called for Baumann to be replaced quickly.
Baumann has been under pressure since the $63 billion acquisition of US seed giant Monsanto in 2018, which he announced shortly after taking office two years earlier. At the 2019 Annual General Meeting, he was the first acting CEO of a Dax group not to be relieved by the shareholders. Because with the acquisition, the Leverkusen-based group traded a wave of lawsuits because of the weed killer glyphosate developed by the Americans, which cost Bayer billions and weighed heavily on the share price. The once most valuable German Dax company is now worth only 56 billion euros ($60.78 billion) on the stock exchange, less than it once paid for Monsanto.
Bayer has also recently become the focus of activist investors. At the beginning of January, the US investment company Inclusive Capital Partners, owned by hedge fund veteran Jeffrey Ubben, announced that it was joining Bayer. Ubben is said to have asked the group to find a new CEO outside of its own ranks.
There is also the issue of splitting up: According to an insider, the activist investor Bluebell, who got on board a few months ago, is pushing for a sale of the Consumer Health business with over-the-counter health products. Bayer could then be split into a pharmaceutical and an agricultural company. The group has so far refused to do so