Bayer, the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals group, has every reason to be a model of good corporate governance. First, it is already under siege from environmental activists over its use of GM crops, making it important that it is a paragon of good behaviour in everything else it does.

Second, it is listed on the New York stock exchange, forcing it to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, introduced in 2002 after the Enron and WorldCom scandals.