The German pharmaceutical giant has sweetened its buyout deal for Monsanto, which turned down an earlier offer. Bayer has added three dollars more per share, and it has its cash ready if the massive deal is accepted. Bayer raised its takeover offer for US-based agrochemical giant Monsanto on Thursday to $125 per share (112.52 euros), up from $122 dollars per share in a previous round. Monsanto had rejected in May the first deal, which was worth a total of $62 billion and would have formed the world's largest provider of pesticides and crop seeds. At the time, Monsanto called Bayer's offer "incomplete and inadequate," but said that it was open to more talks. In a press release Thursday announcing the new offer, Bayer said it had held confidential talks with Monsanto in recent weeks, on the basis of which the improved offer of $125 per share was made. In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Monsanto's board of directors reacted to Bayer's "revised, non-binding proposal" by saying it would review the proposal with its financial and legal advisors and offer further comment only upon the review's completion. Firm offer Bayer emphasized that the new offer was firm, in the sense that it was not contingent on obtaining financing. The company has already obtained a credit agreement from a consortium of major banks. The new offer represents a premium of 40 percent over Monsanto's closing share price on May 9, 2016, the reference date for Bayer's initial buyout offer. Bayer also announced that it had set aside $1.5 billion in contingency funding to pay a "reverse anti-trust break fee" that could come due if US antitrust authorities do not fully approve a Bayer-Monsanto merger. Bayer assured that it has "comprehensively addressed" Monsanto's concerns and that it "is prepared to make certain commitments to regulators, if required, to complete the proposed acquisition." The deal remains controversial, especially among environmentalists, who tend to be highly critical of Monsanto's products – especially its genetically modified seeds and its herbicides – as well as of its business practices.
