Germany's Bayer to complete Monsanto purchase on Thursday

BERLIN (AP) — German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG says it plans to complete its purchase of U.S. seed and weed-killer maker Monsanto Co. this week after receiving all the required approvals from regulators.

Bayer said in a statement that it plans to complete the acquisition on Thursday.

The deal will cost some $63 billion including debt. To obtain regulatory approval, Bayer has committed to divest some businesses, agreeing among other things to the U.S. government's demand that it sell about $9 billion in agriculture activities.

Bayer will become Monsanto's sole shareholder Thursday. The company said Monday that, according to the terms of the U.S. approval, it can integrate Monsanto as soon as divestments to Germany's BASF demanded by regulators have been completed. That's expected to take about two months.

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