Monsanto Could Spin off or Sell Its Searle Unit, WSJ Reports
St. Louis, April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co. could spin off or sell its G.D. Searle pharmaceutical unit as Searle's Celebrex arthritis drug had strong sales in the first quarter, even as the company's earnings were cut, the Wall Street Journal said, citing unnamed investors. Celebrex's success is offset by Monsanto's high costs for crop-technology spending, and Searle has a market value of as much as $40 billion, compared to Monsanto's entire market value of $27 billion, said drug analyst Hemant K. Shah. Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories and American Home Products Corp. are all potential acquirers of the unit, said J.P. Morgan analyst Carl Seiden, and Monsanto declined comment, the Journal reported.
Monsanto, the maker of NutraSweet artificial sweetener, said yesterday that first-quarter profit fell 33 percent as the introduction of Celebrex failed to make up for an increase in marketing and interest costs. |
