Bayer study offer of $ 40 billion by Monsanto

The German drug and chemical group Bayer, valued at € 79 billion, is studying the possibility of acquiring the American agribusiness Monsanto group for more than $ 40 billion, in what would be the latest consolidation among global suppliers of seeds and chemicals for agricultural use.
Bayer and its financial advisers come from studying for weeks how the combined company would be structured. If you are presented with an offer for the company based in St. Louis, she would come nearly a year after the failed attempt of Bayer to acquire another rival, Syngenta, Switzerland.
People involved in the process said that although the German company was weighing Monsanto''s bid, was worried about the possibility that a merger of this size faced several obstacles, regulatory authorities and defense of competition.
It is unclear whether the two sides have held direct negotiations, but a potential offer would emerge in a moment in which the agribusiness sector saw rapid succession of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, including the $ 130 billion merger between Dow Chemical and DuPont, in December.
A transaction would allow Bayer complements its operations of agricultural sciences, incorporating divisions of biotechnology and Monsanto''s seeds, including the chemical spray Roundup and the Roundup Ready genetically modified seeds.
Bayer declined to comment and Monsanto did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Shares of Monsanto rose 9.5% to $ 100.52 at the opening of trading in New York, which means a market value to $ 42.5 billion. Shares of Bayer fell 4.6% in to 95.44 billion euros on the news of the possible offer, which was reported by Bloomberg.
The rapid rounds of negotiations in recent months, were triggered by the misguided attempt to buy Monsanto Syngenta, which failed in August.
Hugh Grant, the Scotsman who occupies the Executive Presidency of Monsanto since 2003, argued that the u.s. company needs to go beyond its dependence of genetically modified organisms, and provide a more integrated offer to farmers, including essential chemicals.
This logic held the three Monsanto''s attempts to purchase Syngenta from 2011, all frustrated, we ended up taking the Switzerland company to accept an offer of $ 44 billion acquisition of ChemChina, a little-known group that has been conducting major acquisitions abroad.
Added to the merger between Dow and DuPont, transactions left Monsanto and Bayer exposed and his German rival BASF to study various scenarios for your agribusiness.
Bayer recently appointed a new Chief Executive: Werner Baumann, veteran with 28 years of experience in company and its former Vice President of strategy, who replaced Marijn Dekkers in charge of the company in April. Dekkers replaced Michael Treschow as Chairman of Unilever.
Under Dekkers, who led the company for six years, Bayer became a conservative in a chemical conglomerate group with more focus on life sciences.
Last year, she promoted the IPO of its Covestro Division, of plastics, in the initial public offering of shares in the German market in years-though the turbulent market conditions have forced Bayer to reduce the issue price. After the IPO, Bayer stayed with four operational areas: pharmaceutical, consumer health products, animal health and agriculture.
The company, which was founded 150 years ago, produces the Xarelto, an anticoagulant that is great success, with 2.3 billion euros in sales last year. It also manufactures products ranging from pesticides and flea collars to remedies against cancer and the company''s oldest brand-aspirin. She continues to have deep roots in their city of origin, Leverkusen, in the industrial region of North Rhine-Westphalia a relationship characterized by its control of local football team in the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen.