German drugs and crop chemicals
company Bayer has won over US seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover
offer of around $66 Billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its
bid for a third time. The deal will create a company commanding more than a
quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast
consolidating farm supplies industry.
Bayer’s move to combine its crop
chemicals business, the world’s second largest after Syngenta AG, with Monsanto
industry leading seeds business, is the latest in a series of major tie-ups in
the agrochemicals sector. The German company is aiming to create a one-stop for
seeds, crop chemicals and computer aided services to farmers. US chemicals
giants Dow Chemical and DuPont plan to merge and later spin off their respective
seeds and crop chemical operations into a major agribusiness.
The Bayer Monsanto deal will be the
largest ever involving a German buyer, beating Daimler’s tie up with Chrysler
in 1998, which valued the US carmaker at more than $40 Billion. It will also be
the largest all-cash transaction on record, ahead of brewer InBev’s $60.4
Billion offer for Anheuser-Busch in 2008.
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