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"These decisions were not made necessary by the recent acquisition," Werner Baumann, boss of the group, said in a conference call, citing a "strategy dating back to 2014".
A third of the job cuts envisaged however concern the agrochemical division, a direct effect of the recent integration of Monsanto, explains the group in a statement.
So far, Bayer has been counting on 1.2 billion euros of synergies from 2022, but did not detail the social consequences of this marriage launched in 2016 and concluded at the beginning of June for 63 billion dollars.
Approximately 1250 additional jobs will be eliminated in the pharmacy division and 1100 in non-prescription drugs, while administrative and commercial services will be cut by "5500 to 6000 jobs".
Germany concerned
A "significant number" of these cuts will concern Germany, including "about 350 jobs" on the pharmaceutical site of Wuppertal, said Bayer.
In total, the group intends to save "2.6 billion euros per year" from 2022, while its vast restructuring plan should cost him "1.7 times this amount", or around 4.4 billion euros. euros.
By separating more than 10% of its 118,200 employees worldwide, Bayer intends to "improve its performance and agility," argues Werner Baumann.
"Life Sciences Business"
The pharmaceutical and chemical group, which now presents itself as a "life sciences company", intends to get rid of non-strategic activities.
Bayer plans to sell its animal health division, the smallest in the group, next year, and "examines its strategic options" for two drugstore activities, Coppertone (sunscreen) and Dr. Scholl's (foot care).
As it had done with Covestro, its former specialty chemicals subsidiary, the group plans to sell the 60% it holds in Currenta, which runs three chemical sites in Germany.
All of these measures must allow the inventor of aspirin, beneficiary but violently hit on the stock market since the acquisition of Monsanto, to target 10 euros earnings per share in 2022, against a target of 5.70 to 5, 90 euros this year.
Research and development
To "strengthen its competitiveness", Bayer also intends to reinvest some of the money saved by disbursing 35 billion euros by the end of 2022, including two-thirds in research and development.
However, the group does not explain how it intends to allay concerns about the takeover of Monsanto and the cascade of legal risks associated with the mastodon of seeds and GMOs.
Since this summer, and the resounding condemnation of Monsanto to compensate a Californian gardener for the dangerousness of its herbicide glyphosate, procedures of the same type have accumulated.
On the last score on October 30, "some 9,300 applications were filed in the United States" against glyphosate alone, "and others are expected to follow," Baumann said in mid-November.
No connection with glyphosate
The new restructuring is "certainly not" related to glyphosate, he insisted Thursday, while the group has been hammering since this summer its confidence in this product "safe and very effective".
But analysts point out the huge legal and financial risks associated with these disputes, making the potential bill for Bayer very difficult to assess.
Mid-August, the Berenberg bank was making the final $ 5 billion possible, while Michael Leacock, an analyst at MainFirst, said Bayer could "easily" pay double.
On the stock market, the title of Bayer ended down 0.72% to 63.77 euros Thursday, bringing to 37.7% losses since the beginning of the year.
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