Bayer buys Monsanto for $66 billion
Bayer AG has acquired the US seeds and agrochemicals company Monsanto for US$66 billion. The deal still requires regulatory approval to close as expected in late 2017.
According to finance website Fortune.com, the merger created more money to spend on research and development. The stakeholder of Monsanto agreed to the merger last December.
If the deal closes, it will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry. With this the new merger is far bigger than its competitors Syngenta and BASF in terms of turnover and research budgets.
Bayer’s CEO Werner Baumann told the Financial Times that he has a strong vision on feeding he world. “Rising populations and increased pressure on farming are facts. Agricultural output will have to rise 60% to feed a world population projected to reach 10bn by 2050,” he said. He sees the merger and hence the combined respective strengths in crop sprays and seeds to be the necessary tools to achieve that output goal.
