According to a media report, the investment company Bluebell Capital Partners has joined Bayer and is campaigning for a break-up of the agricultural and pharmaceutical company.

The activist investor based in the UK also wants to revise Bayer's corporate governance, the Bloomberg agency reported on Tuesday, citing insiders. The fund has asked Bayer to separate the Crop Science and Pharmaceuticals divisions, it was also reported. The argument was that this could offer shareholders upside potential of up to 70 percent. Bayer should also examine a spin-off or IPO of Consumer Health. The size of Bluebell's stake was not disclosed.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the report. Generally speaking, the company is always willing to engage in constructive dialog with shareholders, he said. On Monday, the Californian investment company Inclusive Capital announced an investment in Bayer. Bayer has always rejected recurring speculation about a split-up: These did not increase the value of the business. This is not the first time that the Leverkusen-based company has had to deal with activist investors. The hedge fund Elliott had built up a stake of around two percent in 2019 and put pressure on the company in the wake of the wave of lawsuits in the USA over the alleged carcinogenic effects of the weedkiller glyphosate.

(Report by Tom Sims and Shivani Tanna Written by Scot W. Stevenson; Edited by Birgit Mittwollen. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets).)