The agribusiness industry has experienced a recent wave of consolidation, with Dow Chemical and DuPont pursuing a merger, and Swiss pesticide giant Syngenta AG agreeing to a $43 billion takeover by China National Chemical. The combination also brings together both companies’ leading innovation capabilities and R&D technology platforms with the goal of improving sourcing, convenience and increasing yield, as well as establishing better environmental protection and sustainability. CNN stated that this could reflect investors doubts that the deal will go through. Bayer’s net debt stood at EUR17.45 billion in 2015, more than double the figure of EUR7 billion in 2011, before the company began a string of acquisitions.
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Mr. Dekkers presided over the launch of five new blockbuster drugs, t he $14.2 billion acquisition of USA -based Merck & Co.’s over-the-counter drug business in 2014 and the public offering a year ago of Bayer’s EUR11 billion specialty plastics division. The company has been criticized world-wide for the influence of company’s products, including genetically modified seeds and chemical herbicides, has on the environment and public health.
If regulators do kill the transaction, Bayer has agreed to pay $2 billion to Monsanto.
This deal will give a competitive advantage to Bayer as well as Monsanto as most of their rivals are moving towards mergers.
Consumers could benefit from more-affordable and healthier food options as well as the companies’ using their expertise to help farmers limit their chemical use and environmental impact, company executives said Wednesday after the all-cash deal was announced. Farming interest groups have criticized such mergers because it could lead to fewer choices and higher prices.
“The overlaps are minimal”, Grant told reporters on a conference call.
German-based Bayer, known to US consumers for introducing aspirin more than a century ago, made three other buyout offers before Monsanto accepted an all-cash deal, the largest this year and the biggest foreign takeover of a USA corporation, according to DealLogic.
It would trump Daimler’s 1998 merger with Chrysler, which valued the US carmaker at more than $40 billion. Bayer initially offered $122 months ago when negotiations began.
The firm has been courting the USA crops and seeds specialist for months, and the German company previously offered $125 per share.
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