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"Bayer needs a new strategic positioning, which cannot be
credibly accomplished under Werner Baumann," Ingo Speich, head
of sustainability and corporate governance at Deka, told the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) newspaper in
remarks published on Saturday.
The mutual funds firm is among Bayer's 20 largest shareholders.
"There is a window of opportunity for Chairman Norbert
Winkeljohann to act before the annual general meeting at the end
of April. He has to seize that opportunity, otherwise the
pressure on him will increase as well," Speich added.
He said a successor would have to come from outside the company.
"Generally speaking we are always open to a constructive
dialogue with our stakeholders," a Bayer spokesperson said,
declining to comment specifically on the interview.
Despite recent improvements in the company's agriculture
business and drug development prospects, Bayer shares have been
weighed down by litigation over glyphosate-based herbicide
Roundup and over environmental pollution related to chemicals
known as PCBs.
The legal claims are legacy issues from its takeover of Monsanto
for more than $60 billion in 2018.
Baumann, who engineered the troubled Monsanto deal, was given a
new contract in 2020 that runs until 2024 and said at the time
he would leave the company when that term expires.
A week ago mutual funds group Union Investment criticised
Bayer's chair for a lack of engagement, such as exploring a
spin-off of the company's consumer health division.
Bayer is also facing demands from activist investor Bluebell
Capital Partners to break up the company, including selling off
its consumer health unit and later a separation of its
pharmaceuticals and agricultural businesses.
Another activist investment fund, hedge fund veteran Jeffrey
Ubben's Inclusive Capital Partners, said this month it had also
acquired a stake in Bayer.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Jason Neely)
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