Bayer buys crop protection firm for $425m

German chemical and healthcare giant Bayer has struck a deal to buy US firm AgraQuest, which makes pest control products based on ‘natural’ or specially bred microorganisms. Bayer will pay $425 million for the company, which will form part of the agrichemical wing, Bayer Cropscience. The AgraQuest portfolio includes fungicide brands Serenade, Rhapsody and Sonata as well as insecticide brand Requiem. It has a biopesticide production site in Tlaxcala, Mexico, and an R&D site in Davis, US, and employs 250 people. Bayer says AgraQuest benefits from a ‘promising’ R&D pipeline.