Monsanto Continues Syngenta Takeover Bid, Would Divest Seed Business
ST. LOUIS, MO - Following Syngenta’s statement rejecting Monsanto’s $45 billion takeover bid, Monsanto President Brett Begemann is speaking out, saying he remains committed to striking a deal with Syngenta.
"We made an offer," said Begemann in a presentation to investors, according to The Wall Street Journal. "They rejected that offer, we continue to talk and we'll continue to talk with them and see where we move this along to." He continued that if Syngenta continues to reject an offer, Monsanto is "not precluded from developing relationships with other chemical suppliers.”
In response, Syngenta has reiterated its opinion that Monsanto’s offer “fundamentally undervalues” it as a company.
“The regulatory hurdles are more challenging than implied by the announcement,” Syngenta Head of Media Relations,
Paul Barrett said. “Syngenta as a stand-alone company has unrivaled scale and reach, with a strong presence in all regions and a crop-based strategy covering eight key crops.”
Begemann also said that if Monsanto were to acquire Syngenta, Monsanto would divest itself of Syngenta’s portfolio of seeds and crop genetics. This, he said, is intended to alleviate potential antitrust challenges to combining the world’s number one and number two seed companies by sales.
"We intend to make this a really clean deal... really easy to get done," Monsanto President Brett Begemann said according to Reuters.
However, absorbing Syngenta’s pesticides portfolio would give Monsanto the ability to sell products for farmland around the world where its products don’t currently reach, according to The Wall Street Journal, including portions of Africa and Asia. Monsanto can use its position in seeds to “influence” farmers’ decisions on pesticides, Begemann said, adding, “We help farmers make really complex decisions simply, and they follow those recommendations.”
Monsanto’s global market share in seeds is about 33%, while Syngenta’s is about 10%, according to estimates from BMO Capital Markets. Together, Monsanto and Syngenta would sell about 40% of U.S. corn seeds, according to Wells Fargo.
