Status: 04.01.2022 10:33 a.m.
Bayer is also facing a wave of lawsuits in Germany. Investors accuse the group of having deceived them about the risks of consumer lawsuits in the US in connection with the Monsanto takeover.
The shareholders’ lawsuits against the chemical company Bayer are also attracting ever larger circles in Germany: by the expiry of the limitation period on December 31, 2021, lawsuits for around 320 plaintiffs had been filed with the Cologne Regional Court, the law firm Tilp said. The law firm specializing in investor model proceedings represents the plaintiffs.
The claims of the plaintiffs add up to around 2.2 billion euros. The law firm had already announced in December that it would represent more than 250 institutional investors and a large number of private investors. The total volume of these lawsuits was more than one billion euros at the time.
“The plaintiff investors accuse Bayer in particular of having deceived the capital market about the economic risks that the consumer lawsuits pending in the US in connection with glyphosate and the weed killer Roundup brought for Bayer as a result of the Monsanto takeover,” said Tilp attorney Axel Wegner back then.
Exchange rate losses as a result of the Monsanto lawsuits
The DAX group took over the US group Monsanto in 2016 for almost 59 billion euros. Shortly after the takeover, the company had several waves of lawsuits because the pesticide glyphosate manufactured by Monsanto was associated with cancer. Bayer has already been ordered to pay $ 289 million in the United States, and the share price has fallen dramatically as a result.
These price losses are the subject of the lawsuit at the Cologne District Court: “In the period between the announcement of the first glyphosate-related judgment in the case of Dewayne Johnson on August 10, 2018 and the second judgment in the case of Edwin Hardeman on March 28, 2019, the price of Bayer- Share from over 93 euros to around 56 euros and thus by almost 40 percent, “said Tilp lawyer Christian Herrmann.
Bayer considers the lawsuit to be unfounded
Bayer considers the claims to be unfounded. “Bayer has complied with the law and has complied with its publication obligations,” said a spokesman. “Studies by independent experts confirm that the Bayer Board of Management acted in accordance with its obligations in connection with the acquisition.”
In mid-December the Cologne Regional Court decided that the law firm’s application to initiate a sample investor procedure should be published in the Federal Gazette. This is a first step in the process. If there are enough similar lawsuits, the Higher Regional Court will set up a model plaintiff with whom the process will then be conducted as an example.