Germany's Bayer to complete Monsanto purchase Thursday

BERLIN -- German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG said Monday it plans to complete its purchase of U.S. seed and weed-killer maker Monsanto Co. this week after receiving all the required approvals from regulators.

Bayer said in a statement it plans to complete the acquisition Thursday.

The deal will cost some $63 billion including debt. To obtain regulatory approval, Bayer has committed to divest some businesses, agreeing among other things to the U.S. government's demand it sell about $9 billion in agriculture activities.

Bayer will become St. Louis-based Monsanto's sole shareholder Thursday. The company said, according to the terms of the U.S. approval, it can integrate Monsanto as soon as divestments to Germany's BASF demanded by regulators have been completed. That is expected to take about two months.

Bayer said, following the takeover, "Monsanto will no longer be a company name."

"The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio," it added.