The supervisory board of German multinational pharmaceutical company, Bayer AG has started searching for a successor to Chief Executive Werner Baumann, who has said he would not seek to renew his contract that expires in 2024, on Tuesday.

Bayer AG is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

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Bayer’s areas of business include pharmaceuticals; consumer healthcare products, agricultural chemicals, seeds, and biotechnology products, has its headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany.

Non-executive Chairman Norbert Winkeljohann is looking into internal and external candidates with the goal of presenting a designated successor by the next annual shareholder meeting in April 2023, it cited people familiar with the matter as saying.

Baumann, who engineered Bayer’s troubled takeover of Monsanto, in 2020 was given a new contract until 2024.

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He said at the time he could have been given a longer term but opted for a shorter contract to accommodate his personal plans.

Bayer declined to comment.

The company’s stock has been battered by billions of euros in writedowns and litigation costs, in large part related to the $63 billion Monsanto takeover.

But the operating outlook for its agriculture unit of the world’s largest maker of seeds and pesticides, has improved this year as demand from farmers is being bolstered by rising food prices.