Bayer
Bayer has released a statement saying that the investors' complaints don't have any merit.
"Bayer has complied with the law and with its disclosure requirements," Bayer said. "We will therefore defend ourselves."
"In addition we are convinced that we have carried out adequate due diligence regarding the acquisition of Monsanto," the company continued.
According to Tilp, there are 320 investors who have filed lawsuits with the district court in Cologne seeking compensation from Bayer as of Dec. 30. Just two weeks earlier on Dec. 15, the firm told Reuters there were over 250 investors seeking $1.13 billion. Those asking for damages include both institutional and private investors.
In 2016, Bayer bought Monsanto for $63 billion. At the time, Monsanto was already facing Roundup lawsuits, and there are still thousands of weedkiller lawsuits pending against the seeds firm.
As of December last year, Monsanto and Bayer have settled nearly 100,000 suits relating to Roundup for a total of roughly $11 billion, according to law firms representing victims. There are still nearly 30,000 cases yet to be resolved, and more cases are filed regularly regarding the potential danger of the glyphosate-based weedkiller.
One of the earliest and most significant losses Monsanto suffered was in a California suit filed by Edwin Hardemnan. The company is now appealing that case with the Supreme Court in an effort to dodge suits filed by customers claiming that Roundup caused their illness. Bayer argues that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn't classify glyphosate as a carcinogen, and that the company was and is not required to include a warning on the label.
Bayer made a statement claiming that the U.S. government "has consistently found that glyphosate-based herbicides can be used safely and are not carcinogenic, and has stated that a cancer warning would be false and misleading and misbrand the product".
As of Dec. 13, the Supreme Court had not decided to hear the case or not. Bayer has already lost three appeals against other plaintiffs. The current Conservative-majority in the Supreme Court makes it more likely than before that the court might side with Bayer.
The price of Bayer stock peaked in 2015 at $38.75 and again in 2017 at $34.80. Since then, share prices have rarely even gotten close to the $20 mark, and shares opened at $13.76 on Wednesday. Over the past six months, shares have dropped nearly 9%.
