“Financially inadequate and insufficient to ensure deal certainty”. That is how Monsanto’s board responded to German firm Bayer’s latest bid. Monsanto thus rejects another purchase offer from Bayer, after doing the same in May.

Let’s highlight that the German firm reviewed its initial offer, bringing Monsanto’s share to $125, thus $3 more than its previous offer, for a total of $64 million, payable in cash. However, the U.S seeds company said it remains open to talks of acquisition by Bayer. “Monsanto remains open to continued and constructive conversations with Bayer and other parties to assess whether a transaction that the board believes is in the best interest of Monsanto share owners can be realized,” Monsanto’s board said.

If conclusive, this agreement would fall in line with the strategy that led other agrochemical giants to merge in the past months amid agricultural products price fall and which increased farmers’ spending in seedlings and phytosanitary products. An example is Syngenta which was recently acquired by ChemChina for $43 million while Dow Chemical and DuPont merged subsequent to a $130 billion deal.

Aaron Akinocho