The German Bayer, a pharmaceutical company famous throughout the world for its famous aspirin and linked to the Leverkusen area, in which it also sponsors the football team, in an almost symbiotic relationship in concept, is certainly not having its best period.
After the end of the exclusivity on the active ingredient that made it famous, the company also operating in the chemical sector, acquired Monsanto and the sadly famous herbicide RoundUp: absolutely effective 
in agricultural use, the damages deriving from its use are now proven and glyphosate is one of the substances considered to be the most dangerous in the world, a real carcinogen.
From that moment the problems of the pharmaceutical giant began overwhelmed by lawsuits, claims and payments that he has to face: combined with the crisis in the German economy, close to the expected recession in the next quarter, the corporate situation has forced managers to take even painful initiatives, sacrificing the divisions that Bayer had diversified over time in the various business sectors.
From this point of view we can frame the latest operation which now seems to be on its way to conclusion: Bayer should sell the veterinary division dedicated to animals and called “Animal Health” to the American company Elanco Animal Health.
The division produced products aimed at animal health, such as medicines, medicaments and prophylaxis against ticks, sandflies, fleas, etc. Elanco will pay about $7.6 billion to grab it 
brands, know-how and everything related to Bayer's profitable business unit.
Payment will be made in two different ways:
- Cash: 5.3 billion euros.
- Actions: for a value of 2.3 billion euro.
Given the complexity of the transaction and the figures involved, the closing is expected within the next year, 2020. After the sale of the famous brand "Dr Scholl's", the German giant continues to reduce operating costs and seek liquidity to deal with the economic damage: as regards the image, it will be necessary to recover the corporate reputation. To this end the company is investing 5 billion in research and development of a new herbicide that can replace Monsanto's Roundup and be able to be both effective and efficient from the point of view of collective health.
Wall Street traders did not welcome this from Elanco's point of view: the US company lost 7.7 percentage points in a single session, while Bayer closed trading in Frankfurt in line with the market decline ( about half a percent).
Europe lessons - Ivano Riccardo - 20 August 2019
With this agreement, Elanco becomes one of the first companies in the world in the veterinary drugs sector, with a market share of 13 percent, second only to Zoetis, a company born in 2013 from a spin-off of Pfizer and now completely independent. The leading trio also includes Boehringer Ingelheim, which recently acquired the animal health business from Sanofi.
Last year, Elanco generated about $3.1 billion in sales, while Bayer's animal health unit brought in about $1.6 billion. Industry leader Zoetis had sales of approximately $5.8 billion in 2018.
The CEO of Elanco, Jeffrey Simmons, said he was satisfied with the operation: "The pet owner, the veterinarian and the farmer all win in this operation". For Elanco, the purchase of the Bayer division significantly boosts the pet business at a time when the agricultural sector has become less stable.
