EU Commission Not Notified of Bayer-Monsanto Merger Deal Yet

Acquirement of the US agricultural company Monsanto by the German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer is not notified by the European Commission, according to the spokesperson for the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Commission has not yet been notified about the merger of the German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer and the US agricultural company Monsanto, the spokesperson for the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission told Sputnik on Thursday.

"This transaction has not been notified to the Commission. We will carefully assess the transaction if and when the deal is notified to the Commission," Ricardo Cardoso said.

On Wednesday, Monsanto officially confirmed that Bayer would acquire the company for $66 billion, and the deal had been approved by both companies’ boards of directors. The potential merger raises deep concerns of farmers and environmentalists.

Following the announcement, former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said in a statement the merge would be a "threat to all Americans," would increase prices and profit huge corporations. He said regulators should block the merger.

On the EU side, such regulator would be the European Commission.