THE FAS RUSSIA APPROVED THE BAYER/MONSANTO DEAL

On April 20, 2018, in course of the briefing Igor Artemiev, the Head of the FAS Russia, announced that the authority approved the deal: “The consideration of the global transaction on Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto is over in the Russian jurisdiction. The competition authority approved it.”

The FAS Russia approved the transaction by issuing a Ruling to carry out certain activities aimed at the development of competition in the Russian agro-technical area through creation of potential competition of Russian companies. According to the Ruling, Bayer shall provide technological transfer of molecular selection tools and germplasm of the selected crops necessary to create highly productive seeds. Besides, the company shall provide non-discriminatory access to digital platforms of precise farming, including access to historical data referred to the Russian Federation, as well as to the data that will be collected by Bayer after commercialization of its program products on the territory of Russia. Access to such a data plays a key role for developing and introducing IT-products in the sphere of precise farming by Russian companies. The period of validity of the Ruling is five years.

“We encourage Bayer to prepare and stimulate its competitors on the Russian market supporting Russian companies. Our requirements are based on Russian legislation. We tried to make our requirements to Bayer proportionate, executable and verified. From our point of view, we managed to do that. As long as the Ruling is valid, we will control and monitor its execution”, said the Deputy Head of the FAS Russia Andrey Tsyganov.

The Technology Transfer Center organized by the National Research University Higher School of Economics will coordinate the technology transfer. In the framework of its activities, the Center will select recipients interested in technology transfer and monitor the execution of the Ruling.