LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Pharmaceutical and agrochemical company Bayer is considering a controversial legal maneuver in the United States to find a solution to tens of thousands of outstanding glyphosate lawsuits, according to insiders. The DAX-listed company is currently consulting lawyers and advisors with a view to a strategy known as the "Texas Two-Step", the Bloomberg news agency reported on Wednesday evening. This is intended to force a settlement for the outstanding cases in the US dispute over the alleged cancer risks of weed killers containing glyphosate. However, other companies that had relied on this strategy had not achieved their goal. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.

According to the report, the strategy is based on a peculiarity of Texas company law. This allows companies to divide assets and liabilities into separate divisions. The one with the liabilities is then sent into insolvency as over-indebted. If successful, this would force settlement negotiations with the plaintiffs, who are against settling disputes without going to court. However, this tactic has already been rejected by the courts in the case of large American companies.

At the beginning of March, Bayer announced in the course of a strategy update that it would pursue new approaches to reduce legal risks with regard to the legal disputes in the USA. In the meantime, new law firms have been commissioned and a legal expert, Lori Schechter, is to join the Supervisory Board. "We will contest any negative judgment," said Bayer CEO Bill Anderson at the beginning of March as part of the strategy update. "But it is clear that a defense strategy alone is not enough." Rather, this "also includes more intensive cooperation with other players in the political arena." He left open what exactly this means.

The issue has already cost Bayer 13 billion euros, explained CFO Wolfgang Nickl at the time. At the end of January, around 54,000 cases were still outstanding, 2,000 more than in October. The provisions amounted to 6.3 billion US dollars (5.7 billion euros) at the end of 2023. When asked whether this will be enough, Nickl said he hoped so, but could not guarantee it. "What I can guarantee is that a lot of people are looking at it very methodically, including the auditors."/mis/niw/stk