Exclusive - Bayer puts stake in chemical park operator up for sale - sources

By Reuters • Updated: 09/12/2019

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Bayer AG is pictured at the Bayer Healthcare subgroup production plant in Wuppertal, Germany February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender/File Photo/File Photo - Copyright Ina Fassbender(Reuters)

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By Ludwig Burger and Arno Schuetze

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer <BAYGn.DE> is inviting financial investors to bid for its 60 percent stake in chemical park operator Currenta after initially failing to agree a sale to its former chemicals subsidiary Covestro <1COV.DE>, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Bayer, which is focussing on healthcare and crop protection after the takeover of U.S. seed maker Monsanto, has mandated Morgan Stanley <MS.N> to help with the transaction. Buyout firms and infrastructure investors have been asked to put in initial bids by mid-October, the sources said.

Currenta, which operates infrastructure facilities at German chemical complexes in Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen, could be valued at more than 1 billion euros (890 million pounds), or possibly more than 2 billion, according to one of the sources.

Covestro, Morgan Stanley and Bayer declined to comment.

(Editing by Tassilo Hummel)

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