Washington  (AP)   German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has agreed to the U.S. government’s demand that it sell about $9 billion in agriculture businesses. The sale is a condition for acquiring Monsanto Co., a U.S. seed and weed-killer maker. Antitrust regulators at the Justice Department say it’s the biggest divestiture ever required for a merger.

Federal antitrust regulators have granted agribusiness giants Bayer and Monsanto permission to merge after the two companies agreed to spin off $9 billion worth of assets, the largest such sale of corporate assets ever required by the Department of Justice.