Bayer flags $750 million higher Roundup settlement bill

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Drugs and farming pesticides maker Bayer said the costs of its settlement over claims its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, initially put at $11 billion, would be $750 million higher.

Bayer struck an agreement in principle with U.S. plaintiff’s lawyers in June but a judge later took issue with a side arrangement on future cases that may yet be lodged, known as a class plan.

“Bayer took an additional provision in the third quarter to cover the increased cost of a revised class plan, as it is far enough along in the negotiations to know that the new plan will come in at approximately 2 billion U.S. dollars, an increase over the original cost of 1.25 billion U.S. dollars,” Bayer said in a statement on Monday.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Thomas Seythal)