BERLIN (Reuters) – Bayer faces a billion-dollar investor class action lawsuit in Germany over the takeover of U.S. seed manufacturer Monsanto, specialist law firm Tilp Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft said on Wednesday.
Tilp said it was representing more than 250 institutional investors and a large number of private investors who believed Bayer misled them about the economic risks of the $63 billion acquisition and are demanding damages.
The value of the lawsuits amounts to more than one billion euros ($1.13 billion), the law firm said.
Tilp said it believed Bayer deceived shareholders about the risks of consumer lawsuits pending in the United States linked to the glyphosate-containing weed killer Roundup, which was brought into the company with the 2016 Monsanto acquisition.
Bayer said any complaints were unfounded.
“Bayer has complied with the law and with its disclosure requirements,” the group said. “We will therefore defend ourselves.”
In the United States, Bayer is defending itself against thousands of lawsuits by Roundup users because of the alleged carcinogenic effect of the drug. Bayer has always rejected this.
($1 = 0.8884 euros)
(Reporting by Sabine Wollrab, Patricia Weiss, Matthias Inverardi, Jan Schwartz; Writing by Madeline Chambers; editing by Barbara Lewis)
