Bayer offers $62-B cash for Monsanto

BERLIN (AP) – German drug and chemicals company Bayer AG announced Monday that it has made a $62 billion offer to buy US-based crops and seeds specialist Monsanto.

The proposed combination would create a giant seed and farm chemical company with a strong presence in the US, Europe and Asia.

Bayer said the all-cash offer values shares of Monsanto at $122 each. That compares with their closing price Friday of $101.52 and is 37 percent higher than their closing price of $89.03 on May 9, the day before Bayer made a written proposal to Monsanto.

Bayer had said on Thursday that its executives met recently with their Monsanto counterparts “to privately discuss a negotiated acquisition” of the specialist in genetically modified crop seeds, which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Monsanto said then that it was reviewing Bayer's proposal.

Bayer said it plans to finance the acquisition with a combination of debt and equity.

It said that “is prepared to proceed immediately to due diligence and negotiations and to quickly agree to a transaction.”

The acquisition “would be a compelling opportunity to create a global agriculture leader, while reinforcing Bayer as a life science company with a deepened position in a long-term growth industry,” the German company said in a statement.