欧盟委员会对孟山都、拜耳合并展开深入调查

负责竞争政策的专员 Margrethe Vestager 说：“种子和农药产品对农民和最终消费者来说都是必不可少的。我们需要确保有效竞争，以便农民能够获得创新产品、更好的质量并以具有竞争力的价格购买产品。同时维持一个公司可以创新和投资改进产品的环境。”

The proposed acquisition of Monsanto (US) by Bayer (Germany) would create the world’s largest integrated pesticides and seeds company. It would combine two competitors with leading portfolios in non-selective herbicides, seeds and traits, and digital agriculture. Both companies are active in developing new products in these areas. Moreover, the transaction would take place in industries that are already globally concentrated, as illustrated by the recent mergers of 道氏和杜邦 和 先正达和中国化工，委员会介入以保护农民和消费者利益的竞争。

The Commission’s preliminary concerns

委员会初步担心，拟议中的收购可能会减少许多不同市场的竞争，从而导致价格上涨、质量下降、选择减少和创新减少。特别是，初步市场调查确定了以下三个方面的初步问题：

• 农药
  Monsanto’s pesticide product glyphosate is the most sold non-selective herbicide in Europe. Bayer produces glufosinate ammonium, also a non-selective herbicide and one of the very few alternatives to glyphosate. According to the Commission’s preliminary investigation, Monsanto and Bayer are two of a limited number of competitors in this field capable of discovering new active ingredients and developing new formulations, including addressing the growing problem of weed resistance to existing products.
  In addition, the Commission will further assess both Monsanto’s activities in biological pesticide products that would compete with Bayer’s existing portfolio of chemical pesticide products, and the parties’ overlapping activities in products that tackle varroa mites, a parasite affecting bee colonies in Europe.
• 种子
  Bayer and Monsanto are both active in the breeding of vegetable seeds. The Commission’s initial investigation shows that the parties have high combined market shares in a number of these vegetable seeds markets, and that some of their products compete directly with each other.
  拜耳和孟山都也积极参与多种大田作物种子的育种和许可。孟山都在欧洲的油菜籽市场占有率最高。拜耳在全球油菜籽市场占有率最高，是为数不多的有能力在该市场展开激烈竞争的公司之一。此外，双方都是欧洲竞争对手的重要棉花种子许可方，并且都在投资小麦的研究和创新项目。
• 特质
  性状是植物的特征，例如高度、除草剂耐受性和抗虫或抗病性，可以在实验室开发并引入某些植物品种。
  The Commission’s preliminary investigation indicates that Monsanto has a dominant position in several traits markets worldwide. Bayer is one of the few competitors to Monsanto in certain traits markets, and has notably developed alternative herbicide tolerance traits to Monsanto’s. The Commission will investigate in particular whether the transaction could lead to a reduction of competition in these markets, taking into account the existing links between the few worldwide competitors through cross-licensing and through research and development cooperations.

Finally, the merged entity would hold both the largest portfolio of pesticides products and the strongest global market positions in seeds and traits, making it the largest integrated company in the industry. The Commission will further investigate whether competitors’ access to distributors and farmers could become more difficult if Bayer and Monsanto were to bundle or tie their sales of pesticide products and seeds, notably with the advent of digital agriculture. Digital agriculture consists in the collection of data and information about farms with the aim of providing tailored advice or aggregated data to farmers. Both Bayer and Monsanto are currently investing in this emerging technology.

该交易已于 2017 年 6 月 30 日通知委员会。委员会现在有 90 个工作日的时间来做出决定，直到 2018 年 1 月 8 日。展开深入调查并不预断调查的最终结果。

On July 31, 2017, Bayer and Monsanto submitted commitments to address some of the Commission’s preliminary concerns. However, the Commission considered these commitments insufficient to clearly dismiss its serious doubts as to the transaction’s compatibility with the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission therefore did not test them with market participants.

Given the worldwide scope of Bayer and Monsanto’s activities, the Commission is cooperating closely with other competition authorities, notably with the Department of Justice in the US and the antitrust authorities of Australia, Brazil, Canada and South Africa.

资源： 欧盟委员会