Bayer soars amid report of Roundup 'settlement'

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer saw its shares soar on Friday after a report that the company offered to pay billions of dollars to settle legal disputes in the United States over the weedkiller Roundup.

Bloomberg News reported earlier that Bayer had offered to pay as much as $8 billion (€7.1 billion) to settle more than 18,000 cases in the US. The plaintiffs claim that using the product, which contains the controversial herbicide glyphosate, caused their cancer.

Bayer shares rose as much as 11% following the Bloomberg report as investors eyed a possible end to the ongoing legal disputes.

Later in the day, however, the US court-appointed mediator in the case said Bayer never offered the settlement.

"Such a statement is pure fiction," mediator Ken Feinberg said in an email to Reuters news agency. "Compensation has not even been discussed in the global mediation discussions."

Bayer, based in the western German city of Leverkusen, declined to comment on both the reports of the settlement and Feinberg's response.

During afternoon trading, Bayer's shares ceded most of their early gains, finishing the day in Frankfurt up by 1.78%.

Bayer struggles after Monsanto buyout

The German firm has been facing a host of legal issues since it bought the US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto last year in a massive $63 billion deal.

Since then, Bayer has been embroiled in lawsuits concerning Monsanto's flagship weedkiller, Roundup.

The company's shares have dropped steeply in recent months, wiping roughly €30 billion off the company's value by market capitalization since last August.

Juries in several lower US courts granted plaintiffs massive damages in cases involving Roundup, although judges later reduced the amounts. Bayer has vowed to appeal.

Bayer maintains that scientific evidence shows that glyphosate does not increase the risk of cancer.

Plaintiffs, on the other hand, have often pointed to a 2015 finding by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) according to which glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic."

The finding by the IARC, which is a branch of the World Health Organization, did not indicate the exposure levels at which the chemical might cause cancer.

rs/msh  (Reuters, AFP, dpa)