Bayer, Monsanto reach deal worth $66B

After a long negotiation process, German health and agricultural company Bayer reached a deal to acquire seed and pesticide firm Monsanto. The deal is valued at $66 billion, NPR reports.

St. Louis-based Monsanto is an agricultural seed supplier, fertilizer producer and also makes herbicides, most notably Roundup. Bayer, well known for its aspirin products, is responsible for herbicide products like Tribute Total Herbicide and Spectacle FLO.

Bayer will take on $57 billion in debt to finance the purchase, which is the largest-ever foreign acquisition by a German company. The accepted offer is $4 billion more than Bayer’s initial offer on May 9.

According to the New York Times, Monsanto and Bayer’s agriculture business, which focuses on seeds and traits, will be based in St. Louis, and its crop science headquarters will be based in Monheim, Germany.

The deal follows a trend among agriculture companies. In December, DuPont and Dow Chemical, parent company of DowAgroSciences, agreed to merge, creating a company with a combined revenue of $92 billion in sales. Then, in February, ChemChina acquired Syngenta for $43 billion in cash.

The deal will face regulatory scrutiny due to the control the company will have over agricultural market. In August, a U.S. regulator approved the ChemChina-Syngenta merger, which faced similar regulatory concerns due to potential market overlap.

If the deal fails to pass regulations, Bayer has agreed to pay Monsanto $2 billion.

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