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Bayer Investors Back CEO Even as Many Protest Compensation

Bayer Gets Slap on Wrist for Pay as CEO Defies Break-up Calls

Bayer AG investors protested against the company’s compensation plan but rejected calls from some shareholders for a broader vote of disapproval in management’s performance, following the debacle over Roundup weed killer.

Almost 76% of the shareholder base present at the annual meeting Friday voted against a compensation system that proxy advisers criticized as excessive as it failed to reflect performance and potential fines from settlements of litigation over the herbicide. The vote is non-binding.

Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann and his management team received 82% approval for their actions in 2021. It’s a symbolic yet closely watched figure after Singapore’s Temasek, one of Bayer’s biggest shareholders, pushed for an ouster of the CEO, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News earlier.

Several shareholders asked whether Bayer was considering a break-up by spinning off the crop science division, including Monsanto. That’s not on the agenda, according to Bayer’s leadership.

“On the question on a spin-off of any division, that does not increase the value of business and would lead to dis-synergies,” Baumann said, adding that an external report commissioned by supervisory board confirmed that view. Chairman Norbert Winkeljohann echoed those comments in his speech. 

Bayer is now looking at improving its operating business while trying to settle the litigation related to Roundup, which it acquired when it bought Monsanto.

“We do not see the need for a large acquisition,” Baumann said. “Small and medium acquisitions as well as partnerships” and potential further divestitures may be on the agenda, he added.

Bayer shares rose 1.5% before the outcome of the vote was published.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.