Bayer shares are soaring on a report that it wants to pay $8 billion to settle thousands of Roundup lawsuits

Bayer shares soared as much as 11% on Friday.

Bloomberg reported that the German company has proposed to pay $8 billion to settle more than 18,000 US lawsuits on its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup case.

The stock was on track for its best single-day gain in a decade as traders said the settlement could remove an “overhang” on Bayer shares.

Bayer shares soared as much as 11% on Friday on a Bloomberg report that the German company has proposed to pay $8 billion to settle more than 18,000 US lawsuits on its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup case.

The stock was on track for its best single-day gain in a decade as traders said the settlement could remove an “overhang” on Bayer shares.

Bayer shares have lost more than a third, or roughly 30 billion euros ($33.56 billion), in market value since August last year, when a California jury in the first such lawsuit found that Monsanto should have warned of the alleged cancer risks.

A Bayer spokesman declined to comment.

At 0813 GMT, the shares were up 8.7% at 68.5 euros, the top gainer on Germany's blue chip DAX 30