A recent statement issued from Bayer has announced that the company intends to exit the animal health business in what it is calling “planned efficiency and structural measures”.

The statement explained that while the company did believe “this unit offers growth options in an attractive market, Bayer intends to allocate the investment resources necessary to support Animal Health to Bayer’s core businesses of Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Crop Science”.

Bayer anticipates annual contributions of €2.6 billion from 2022 on as a result of its “planned efficiency and structural measures”.

The statement explained that the measures will include a reduction of around 12,000 of 118,200 jobs worldwide with a significant number of the job losses in Germany.

It added that full details of the planned job losses will be worked out in the months ahead.

However, the statement outlined that a portion of the freed-up funds are set to be used to strengthen innovation and competitiveness in its other divisions.

Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer, explained: “Through the end of 2022 alone, we aim to invest a total of around €35 billion in the company’s future, with research and development accounting for over two thirds of this figure and capital expenditures for just under one third.”