PHILADELPHIA (dpa-AFX) - New trouble for Bayer in the U.S. legal dispute over alleged cancer risks of glyphosate-containing weed killer. A jury in Philadelphia before the weekend awarded 83-year-old Ernie Caranci, who blames glyphosate for his cancer, $25 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages. It is the second verdict against the Dax company within a week, having previously won nine cases. Bayer plans to appeal both verdicts, the company said Monday. Bayer also stresses that it remains convinced of the safety of glyphosate.

The total in the current case, moreover, could indeed still come down. Lay juries often award plaintiffs high sums in the U.S., which judges not infrequently lower.

Bayer had saddled itself with the problems surrounding the glyphosate-containing weed killer Roundup in 2018 with the more than $60 billion Monsanto acquisition. In the same year, a first judgment against the Dax company followed, which set off a wave of lawsuits in the United States. In 2020, Bayer launched a program worth billions of dollars to settle the majority of the lawsuits without admitting liability.

Bayer has already settled the majority of the lawsuits. In the spring, when the company presented its financial figures for 2022, it was announced that of the total of around 154,000 claims filed, around 109,000 had been settled or did not meet the settlement criteria. In addition, as of the end of 2022, Bayer can build on a cushion of US$6.4 billion that it has set aside for settlements of existing and future glyphosate lawsuits.

In view of this sum, many investors are likely to regard the glyphosate case as already largely financially settled. The current development left investors cold on Monday. Bayer shares rose in line with the Dax by around half a percent in the morning.

In addition to glyphosate, Bayer is also facing lawsuits over alleged late effects - alleged pollution of water, air and soil - from Monsanto's PCB chemical, which has been banned for decades. The company is appealing rulings that have already been handed down against it.

The numerous expensive legal problems left behind by his predecessor Werner Baumann are not making life any easier for Bill Anderson, Bayer's CEO since June. They limit his financial options, for example when it comes to strengthening the pharmaceuticals business.

Investors are hoping for fresh impetus from Anderson, and not just in day-to-day business. For some time now, some investors have been calling for a split-up of the Group, because they see the U.S. legal problems of the agricultural division as a burden and consider Bayer's individual parts to be more valuable than the Group as a whole. So far, however, Anderson is keeping a low profile. A strategy update is not commonly expected until late this year or early in 2024./mis/niw/stk