By Natalia Drozdiak 

BRUSSELS--The European Union's antitrust agency signaled Wednesday it would conduct a strict review of Bayer AG's pending $62 billion purchase of Monsanto Co. and similar mergers by rivals, an unusually early statement before the EU has received formal notification of a deal.

"Our final decision [on the Bayer- Monsanto deal] must strictly and impartially apply European merger control rules", said European Union Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager in a letter to two Members of the European Parliament posted on the Green Party's website.

The Green Party lawmakers, Martin Haeusling and Sven Giegold, had voiced concerns about the merger to the European Commission, the bloc's antitrust agency.

"In our investigation, we will take into account your concerns about the effects of the Bayer-Monsanto merger on prices, the variety of available seed products as well as research and innovation," Ms. Vestager said.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 29, 2016 05:56 ET (09:56 GMT)