FRANKFURT, June 6 (Reuters) - Bayer AG said it was further reducing its stake in plastics and chemicals subsidiary Covestro from 53.3 percent, part of a plan to sever ownership ties completely over the medium term.
As part of three separate transactions, the German drugmaker said on Tuesday it had started placing 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in Covestro shares on the open market in an accelerated bookbuilding procedure after the market close on Tuesday.
In addition, Bayer is offering 1 billion euros in bonds that are exchangeable into Covestro shares maturing in 2020.
Finally, Bayer said it would deposit 8 million Covestro shares, a stake of close to 4 percent based on Thomson Reuters data, in Bayer's pension trust in the near future.
That stake would be worth about 530 million euros, based on Tuesday's closing price.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by David Clarke)
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