BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said Germany's Bayer had submitted commitments aimed at easing competition concerns over its $66 billion takeover of U.S. agrochemicals group Monsanto, suggesting the company aims to avoid a lengthy review.
The Commission said it had extended a deadline by two weeks, aiming to complete its initial review of the deal by Aug. 22.
The German chemicals maker has previously agreed to major asset sales to win the go-ahead from competition authorities, though it did not comment on Tuesday on what it had offered to the European Commission.
It still expects to be able to close the deal by year-end.
Recent deals in the sector, such as the merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont and ChemChina's purchase of Switzerland's Syngenta, were subjected to full-scale probes, resulting in substantial concessions from the companies.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Miles and Robert-Jan Bartunek; additional reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Jason Neely and David Evans)
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