Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Seed company Monsanto, which rejected Bayer’s buyout offer in May, is exploring various transactions, including the acquisition of BASF’s agriculture-solutions unit, news service Bloomberg reported. In return, BASF would likely receive newly issued shares in Monsanto, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter. The discussions are at an early stage, and no […] Read more
Monsanto reported exploring BASF ag unit buy
Monsanto in talks with Bayer, others about ‘strategic options’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Monsanto is in talks with Bayer and other companies regarding “alternative strategic options,” a month after it rejected the German company’s US$62 billion takeover offer, the U.S. seed producer said on Wednesday. Monsanto’s options include combinations with other companies and businesses in the sector beyond Bayer. Potential deals could involve BASF […] Read more
Bayer crop unit apologizes to farmers after Twitter gaffe
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters –– Bayer AG’s crop science division apologized on Monday for a tweet that suggested reduced meat demand could benefit the environment, in a bid to appease outraged farmers who buy the company’s seeds and chemicals. The tweet, published on the official Bayer CropScience (@Bayer4crops) account on Sunday, linked to a Vox.com article […] Read more
Bayer ex-CEO reportedly opposed Monsanto deal
Reading Time: < 1 minute Frankfurt | Reuters — Bayer ex-chief executive Marijn Dekkers opposed the company’s plans for a US$62 billion takeover of U.S. seeds firm Monsanto, German magazine Der Spiegel reported. Dekkers warned Bayer non-executive board chairman Werner Wenning against going ahead with the offer, Der Spiegel said in an excerpt of an article to be published on […] Read more
Bayer waiting for Monsanto to engage after spurned bid
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, has still not opened its books more than two weeks after it rejected Bayer AG’s US$62 billion acquisition offer but left the door open to a possible deal, according to people familiar with the matter. The impasse shows that little progress in negotiations has been made since […] Read more
Agrium sees opportunities from major merger talk
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Agrium, North America’s largest retail seller of products for crop producers, could benefit if some of the biggest makers of seed and agricultural chemicals merge, CEO Chuck Magro said on Wednesday. Responding to a question during a company investor day in Toronto about how possible tie-ups of ChemChina and Syngenta, or of Bayer […] Read more
BASF says not backed into corner by Bayer’s Monsanto swoop
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ludwigshafen, Germany | Reuters — BASF, which has so far kept out of a consolidation push among global seeds and pesticides groups, said its business model was not affected by rival Bayer’s plans to buy Monsanto. “We are not backed into a corner by what is happening in the market,” the group’s deputy chief executive […] Read more
New crop protection products for this summer
New Technology: More options provide greater grower flexibility
Reading Time: 3 minutes Each new year tells its own tale and offers a new mix of tough cropping decisions, with the hope of a perfect growing season and higher yields. Weed and disease management are constant challenges for growers, however, particularly with changing species, the risk of resistance and the impact of weather throughout the growing season. The […] Read more
Bayer secures loan facility to fund Monsanto bid
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — German drugs and crop chemicals group Bayer, which has made a US$62 billion bid for U.S. seeds company Monsanto, has secured a 60 billion-euro (C$87.75 billion, or US$66.9 billion) loan facility, business journal Handelsblatt reported Thursday. The loan facility can be expanded up to 75 billion euros (C$109.68 billion, or US$83.62 billion), the German […] Read more
Monsanto rejects Bayer bid
Reading Time: 2 minutes Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, has rejected Bayer AG’s US$62 billion acquisition bid as “incomplete and financially inadequate” but hasn’t slammed the door on further talks. Reuters on Tuesday quoted two unnamed sources as saying Monsanto can see the logic of combining with the German drugs and crop chemicals group, as per Bayer’s proposal […] Read more
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