Bayer confirms $66bn Monsanto takeover

German chemicals giant Bayer has confirmed its record-breaking $66bn takeover of GM seeds business Monsanto - a deal that would create the world's biggest seeds and pesticides company.

The offer, a record cash takeover, values Monsanto shares at $128 and will create a company worth $66bn (£50bn).

As well as farm-products, Bayer also sells healthcare products including Alka-Seltzer.

Monsanto is known for its genetically modified seeds for crops.

The use of such seeds is widespread in the US, but plans to introduce these into Europe have prompted fierce protests by environmental activists.

Bayer said feeding the world's population, which is expected to rise by around a third by 2050, was a massive challenge.

Werner Baumann, chief executive of Bayer, said the takeover would bring benefits across the board and deliver "substantial value to shareholders, our customers, employees and society at large".

Fight back
The tie-up, which will give the new company control of more than 25% of the world's supply of seeds and pesticides, comes amid a wave of mergers in the agriculture sector.

Falling crop prices have seen farmers cutting back on buying seeds and agricultural chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides, leading to lower profits for suppliers.


The industry has been fighting back in order to save business costs.

Rivals including Dow Chemical, DuPont and Syngenta have all announced tie-ups recently, although some have yet to be cleared by regulators.

Bayer's takeover of Monsanto is likely itself to attract close scrutiny from anti-competition regulators because of the sheer size of the combined company and the control it would have over the global seeds and sprays markets.

'Frankenstein'
Farming groups have raised concerns that such mergers could lead to fewer choices and higher prices.

Professor John Colley of Warwick Business School said: "Bayer's acquisition of 'Frankenstein' crop producer Monsanto could be a horror story for both Bayer and its customers: the farmers."

He said there were a number of worrying issues: "The farmers will lose out as product ranges are rationalised and attempts are made to increase prices.

"Clearly Bayer will realise cost savings from the acquisition, but they have had to pay an enormous price for Monsanto at a 45% premium to the previously undisturbed share price."

There is a $2bn break fee if the deal does not complete.

Bayer shares are 3% higher in Frankfurt. Monsanto shares were up 1.6% ahead of the US market open.

(http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37361556)

Change at last but is it for the best ?

we wait and see

...i feel it wont be, purchasing a near monopoly on some of these agricultural products is dangerous, not for them, for us that gives them almost complete dictation on what hits market but I guess in the end it all depends on if they keep the evils monsato has created or fund the proper research for safe genetic altering if there is such a thing.

Don't count on them for any breakthroughs that benefit you or me

If they can find a way to make money with it we will see it , if not its not going to be released.

vostok said:

Change at last but is it for the best ?

we wait and see

Click to expand...

I don't see how this is good for anyone but the stockholders.

Roundup ready weed.

With Bayer being the buyer human plant hybrids can't be far behind.

You could take cuttings and make a Army

I jest , but maybe one day ..

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Might as well use the spot from a double post to add this link , a google search on Bayer's handy work
https://www.google.ca/search?q=Bayer+ag+guilty+of&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=9cYLWfS3IIH-jwOu1qGAAg

I was reading up on the subject and found some numbers

The bayer-Monsanto company will become the largest agribusiness on the planet, selling 29 percent of the world’s seeds and 24 percent of its pesticides.


A combined Bayer-Monsanto company would become a modern day cotton cartel , will hemp once again be sidelined by the greedy hands of big business ? we will know soon enough.
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A merged Bayer-Monsanto company would control about 70 percent of cottonseed sales in the United States — so that may be one possible area of focus (and perhaps the new firm will have to divest its cottonseed assets).

Back in 1994, the world’s four biggest seed companies controlled just 21 percent of the market. But in the years since, as crop biotechology advanced, companies like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, Bayer, and Dupont went on a feeding frenzy, buying up smaller companies and their patents. Today, the top four seed companies and top four agrochemical firms command more than half their respective markets.


The deal comes amid a blurry rush of agribusiness consolidation in recent months, with ChemChina-Syngenta and DuPont-Dow Chemical forming their own multibillion-dollar Voltrons.

Some onlookers are fretting that the reduced competition could shrivel up innovation, leading to slower improvements in crop yields. Others worry that these new agricultural giants may have outsize political power. "They’ll have more ability to lobby governments," says Phil Howard of Michigan State University, who studies consolidation in the food industry. "They’ll have a lot more power to shape policies that benefit themselves at the expense of consumers and farmers."

It’s a big story, and not just because Monsanto is such a famous (or infamous, if you prefer) brand. The consolidation of the world’s seed, chemical, and fertilizer industries over the past two decades has been astonishing, with potentially large ripple effects for farms and food systems all over the globe.

The agricultural industry keeps getting more and more consolidated...

If all these mergers go through, Tom Philpott of Mother Jones points out, the three biggest companies that will emerge (Bayer-Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and DowDupont) will sell 59 percent of the world’s patented seeds and 64 percent of all pesticides. The behemoths are getting behemoth-ier.


Article https://www.vox.com/2016/9/14/12916344/monsanto-bayer-merger

What would the creators of zyklon B want with gene modification?

i don't see anything good coming out of this. a company that has questionable gmo policies, a history of selling unsafe pesticides, and human rights violations, merging with a company with multiple convictions for price controlling, and a history of Nazi collaboration, experimenting on 100s of sets of twin in concentration camps during world war 2.
i think the villagers should start getting torches made and pitchforks sharpened up, the crops will be coming out of the fields to eat us