Excluding debt, the deal is valued at $57 billion.
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Monsanto rejected that bid, but said it was “open” to further talks.
Bayer shares rose 3 percent to 96.11 euros.
Monsanto is the world’s largest supplier of genetically modified seeds, which now dominate American farming but are still a major source of environmental protests in Europe and overseas.
At Home Group Inc, the privately held home decor superstores operator said net sales in the second-quarter ending in July surged 20.8% from a year ago to $188.4 million.
Monsanto’s sales totalled $US15 billion past year.
Chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer has completed the acquisition of USA seed-maker Monsanto for approximately $66bn (£50bn), finalising the largest cash deal in corporate history. Finally, the deal was today signed at United States dollars 128 a share. It will form the world’s biggest seed and pesticide company, giving it control of more than 25% of the sector.
“It’s the last big industry in the world to be digitised”.
“The whole agricultural industry around the world is basically going thru a transformation”, said Monsanto’s chief technology officer, Robb Fraley.
“We believe that this combination with Bayer represents the most compelling value for our shareowners, with the most certainty through the all-cash consideration”, he said.
“This allows to make more investments, have more capabilities and build better products for farmers, that they can use to grow crops with higher yields. and farm better, farm smarter”.
Liam Condon, the head of Bayer’s crop science division, said the company was “pretty confident” that the deal would be approved by regulators because both companies have “highly complementary” product lines and geographic offerings.
“The deal will face a number of hurdles, principally for US national security issues such as production close to military bases, and from farmers who will see their choice of products limited further”, she said in emailed comments.
“We have very, very little overlap”, he said.
Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said: “This represents a major step forward for our Crop Science business and reinforces Bayer’s leadership position as a global innovation driven Life Science company with leadership positions in its core segments, delivering substantial value to shareholders, our customers, employees and society at large”.
Antitrust experts have said regulators will likely demand the sale of some soybeans, cotton and canola seed assets as a condition for approving the deal. After Bayer and Monsanto tie up, creating a leader with $26 billion in combined revenue from agriculture, that number will shrink to just four.
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Bayer said BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JP Morgan had committed to providing the bridge financing.
