KWS bows out of bid to buy Bayer's vegetable business

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German seed seller KWS Saat <KWSG.DE> has bowed out of an eleventh-hour bid for Bayer's <BAYGn.DE> vegetable seed business saying it accepts a decision by the European Commission that BASF <BASFn.DE> is the most suitable buyer.

"We have accepted the decision that the business will go to BASF," a KWS spokesman said on Wednesday. "Possible new steps are now up to BASF."

Bayer said on Tuesday it had won approval from the EU commission for BASF to take over the businesses it will divest to win regulatory clearance for its planned acquisition of Monsanto.

(Reporting by Patricia Weiss; Writing by Caroline Copley)