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Reuters (Sept. 14, Roumeliotis) confirms that Germany's Bayer has won over Monsanto's management with its nearly $66 billion, or $128 per share, cash offer to acquire the global seed market leader. The combined entity will command over 25 percent of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides. The Bayer deal "includes a fee of $2 billion should the transaction fail to get regulatory clearance as planned," the wire service adds. The deal is now on track to close by the end of next year. It will rank as the biggest transaction of all time involving a German buyer, trumping Daimler's merger deal with Chrysler in 1998 that valued the U.S. automaker at more than $40 billion.
BBC News (Sept. 14) adds that combining Bayer and Monsanto will make it the market leader in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Monsanto is mainly known for its genetically modified seeds for such crops as corn, cotton, soybeans, wheat, and sugar cane. "Such seeds have attracted criticism from some environmental activists," BBC points out.
Bloomberg (Sept. 14, Kirchfeld, Kresge, Nair) recalls that Bayer initially made an unsolicited offer for Monsanto of $122 a share back in May, then hiked that two months later to $125 a share. The two proposals were rejected by Monsanto as being too low. Soon after, Monsanto granted access to some financial accounts to conduct due diligence prior to Bayer coming back with its third offer. "One impetus for Monsanto is the company's ambition to become a one-stop shop for farmers," states Bloomberg, "and to sell a comprehensive array of fertilizers and seeds to be used in conjunction with big data applications."
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