Bayer shortlists private equity firms to bid for pest control unit -Handelsblatt

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer has shortlisted a number of private equity groups to make binding bids for its pest control unit Bayer Environmental Science (BES), Handelsblatt reported on Friday.

Cinven, CVC and Apax are among the bidders that Bayer, which earlier this year put the business up for sale, has picked for the next bidding round, the newspaper cited financial sources as saying.

Bayer, which declined to comment, is selling the unit to cut debt and to focus its crop science division on its core agriculture customers. Environmental Science offers pesticides and rodent control to non-farming customers like greenskeepers and warehouse managers.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Chris Reese)