by Aiko Matsuda, Alexander Gladstone, Andrew Schurria, Patrick Thomas, (i>Wall Street Journal
Bayer is making another push to resolve lawsuits linking the popular weedkiller Roundup to cancer, while exploring a bankruptcy filing for its Monsanto agriculture business in case the settlement plan fails, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bayer is drawing up plans to try to resolve some of its mass lawsuits over Roundup through proceedings in Missouri state court, where a majority of them are pending, the people said. But given its past difficulties in ending the Roundup litigation in civil courts, the German drug and agriculture conglomerate is preparing as another option a bankruptcy filing covering the weedkiller’s U.S. manufacturer, Monsanto, they said.
One possible option, known as the Texas Two-Step, has yielded mixed results after court rulings curbed the use of chapter 11 to protect solvent companies from litigation. Bayer is exploring as one of its options a more traditional approach that would place Monsanto’s U.S. business directly into chapter 11, some of the people said.
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