By JIM RUTLEDGE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It is down to the wire for the final decision to approve or turn down a $62.5 billion merger between U.S. seed giant Monsanto Co. with the German drug and crop chemicals manufacturer Bayer AG. A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) spokeswoman declined to discuss a timetable or comment on the matter with Farm World, however.

Just weeks ago, after pushing through nearly $10 billion on conditional spinoffs, European Union antitrust regulators approved the deal that, if the merger is approved by the DOJ, would create a company with a share of more than a quarter of the world’s seeds and pesticides market.

The EU approved the deal in late March after winning pledges from Bayer to sell certain seed and herbicide assets by nearly $7.5 billion to its European competitor BASF, and additionally agreed to sell its profitable vegetable seed unit also to BASF for more than $1.8 billion – all concessions to ease EU regulatory and competitive concerns.

“We have approved Bayer’s plans to take over Monsanto because the parties’ remedies, worth well over $9 billion, meet our competition concerns in full,” said European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who received more than 50,000 petition emails and more than 5,000 letters opposing the deal.

“Our decision ensures that there will be effective competition and innovation in seeds, pesticides and digital agriculture markets also after the merger. In particular, we have made sure that the number of global players actively competing in these markets stays the same.

“That is important, because we need competition to ensure farmers have a choice of different seed varieties and pesticides at affordable prices. We need competition to push companies to innovate in digital agriculture and to continue to develop new products that meet the high regulatory standards in Europe,” she said.

Just days after the EU announcement, the media outlet Bloomberg reported those concessions apparently are not sufficient enough to win over U.S. regulators who worry the merger could hurt competition.

According to the report, the DOJ, which is also facing an onslaught of demands from U.S. farmers and consumer groups to kill the merger, is urging Bayer to divest more assets to satisfy its conditions. Department spokeswoman Kerry Kupec said, “We decline to comment,” to an email inquiry from Farm World.

On April 5, Monsanto issued a statement that was included in its first-quarter financial results, stating the company “continues to be confident in the companies’ collective ability to secure the required approvals within the second calendar quarter of 2018 and in the time contemplated by the agreement.”

A company spokesperson referred Farm World to Bayer for additional comments, which did not reply to an email inquiry to its Germany headquarters.

On April 16, the European Commission is expected to approve Bayer’s promised sell-off of its vegetable seed business to rival BASF for $1.8 billion. The commission earlier approved Bayer selling its non-selective herbicide businesses and some seed assets to BASF seven months ago.

Chinese and Brazilian antitrust regulators have already approved the merger that, if approved by the United States, would be the third major mega-billion agribusiness merger in recent years. With the merger of DowDuPont and the ChemChina-Syngenta deal, completing the takeover of Monsanto by Bayer would result in the three combinations controlling 61 percent of the world’s seed and pesticide markets.

(Editor’s note: As this was going to press Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported the DOJ had in fact approved the Bayer-Monsanto merger after the companies pledged to sell off additional assets.)