Bayer plans to raise BRIC revenue to 10 bln-paper

FRANKFURT, March 28 (Reuters) - Bayer (BAYGn.DE) plans to nearly double its revenues from Brazil, Russia, India and China to about 10 billion euros ($14.10 billion) by 2015, Chief Executive Marijn Dekkers told German daily Handelsblatt.

Revenues from the four so-called BRIC countries are 5.5 billion euros currently. In China alone, Bayer sees revenue potential of around 6 billion euros from the current 3 billion euros, according to Handelsblatt.

Dekkers wants to use half the savings gleaned from a cost- cutting program announced in November to increase staffing in emerging markets, Handelsblatt said in an extract from an advance copy of its Tuesday edition.

Dekkers also said he sees rising research and development spending for all three business divisions, according to Handelsblatt.

Bayer has no plans to sell its Bayer Material Science unit, the paper said.

Dekkers expects that the current weakness in the pharmaceutical division will improve in 2012 as new products such as Xarelto boost growth and profitability, Handelsblatt said. ($1=.7094 Euro) (Reporting by Edward Taylor, editing by Maureen Bavdek)