By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Editor

To win antitrust approval for its $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto Co., German giant Bayer AG has agreed to sell its Liberty herbicide and LibertyLink seed lines.

The move was required by South Africa’s antitrust officials, because the lines are competition for current Monsanto products.

According to Reuters, Bayer’s divestment will account for bulk sales worth about $2.5 million.

Bayer advisors are expected to send packages to prospective buyers for the lines in a few days.

To successfully merge, Bayer and Monsanto must receive antitrust approval in more than 30 jurisdictions across the globe.

A request for U.S. approval has been submitted.

The companies have not yet submitted a request to the European Union.

Monsanto shareholders approved the merger in late 2016.

“By bringing together our expertise and our resources to drive this shared vision, we can do even more together to benefit growers around the world and to help address broad global challenges like climate change and food scarcity,” Hugh Grant, Monsanto chairman and chief executive officer, said at the time.

According to a joint statement, the combined businesses will “benefit from Monsanto’s leadership in Seeds & Traits and Climate Corporation platform along with Bayer’s broad Crop Protection product line across a comprehensive range of indications and crops in all key geographies.”

The merger will allow growers to select from a broad set of solutions to meet current and future needs, according to Bayer. Those solutions cover seeds and traits, digital agriculture and crop protection.

Monsanto shareholders will receive about $128 per share at the close of the merger.

When complete, the merger will create the world’s largest seed and crop protection company.

The combined agriculture business will house its global Seeds & Traits and North American commercial headquarters in St Louis, Missouri.

The global Crop Protection and Crop Science headquarters will be in Monheim, Germany.

There will also be locations in North Carolina, throughout the U.S. and around the world.

To keep farmers, ranchers and others abreast of the merger, the two companies have launched AdvancingTogether.com.