Bayer clinches deal for sale of Thane land

Bayer CropScience, the Indian agrochemicals arm of Germany's Bayer AG, has concluded the sale of 104 acres of land it owns in Thane near Mumbai to Agile Real Estate – a part of Mumbai-based developer Kalpataru Group - for Rs1,250 crore, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bayer executed the sale agreement today and received Rs730 crore towards the final consideration, it said.

Bayer had entered into a non-binding and exclusive agreement with Agile for sale of this land parcel along with its building and structures at Kolshet Road in Thane on 31 March 2011. Kalpataru had then paid Rs520 crore as earnest money and advance to Bayer for this deal, and has paid the balance now to conclude the transaction. The developer has paid the final consideration through combination of internal accruals and debt.

In its filing to the BSE, Bayer CropScience said that both the partners have accepted Rs1,250 crore to be the full and final aggregate consideration for the sale and transfer of the said property in favour of Agile.

The Bayer CropScience business in India is divided into three groups - crop protection, environmental science and bioscience. Its crop production products include insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, seed treatment and plant growth regulators.

Though the company had budgeted capital expansion of Rs66 crore for this fiscal, it prefers to source from contract manufacturing units since it is more efficient and economical, said liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the non-executive and independent chairman for Bayer CropScience, at the company's recent AGM.

''Seventy per cent of our total formulations are contract manufactured,'' he said.