German pharmaceutical and chemical company, Bayer AG (ETR:$BAYN), has been planning on selling several of its assets in order to successfully execute its $66 billion takeover of agribusiness giant Monsanto, Co. (NYSE:$MON). BASF SE (ETR:$BAS) and Syngenta AG (OTCMKTS:$SYENF) are two of a handful of the agribusiness companies that have already made initial offerings for Bayer’s assets, according to those familiar with the current situation.
Both companies have shown interest in acquiring assets regarding canola, cotton seeds, and the LibertyLink herbicide-resistant trait as well as its glufosinate weed killer, reported the same sources who have asked not to be identified. Bayer’s garlic and pepper seed operations could also be sold either separately or in a package. Overall earnings from the sale of assets is expected to be from $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
Sources said that discussions are still at early stages, and the deals and details would take a couple of months to be finalized and complete. No final decisions have been made, thus companies can still decline offers or pull out of deals.
While Executives at both BASF and Syngenta had said previously that they would look into purchasing Bayer’s assets, representatives of both agribusiness companies had declined to comment on the matter when reached. Representatives of Bayer declined to comment as well. Bayer had reportedly released its assets earlier this year for sale and had called for related companies to bid for businesses either in entire packages or individually.
A large number of companies in the agrochemical industry have either been acquiring or being acquired by agribusinesses recently, and BASF had largely stayed out of it. Syngenta, on the other hand, is currently being acquired by China National Chemical Corp. in a $43 billion deal. Another company, DuPont Co. (NYSE:$DD), had recently sold its crop-protection assets to FMC Corp. (NYSE:$FMC) in order to merge with Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE:$DOW). As such, BASF’s recent endeavours to acquire Bayer’s assets could come as a surprise to some — not only because the company was not very involved in acquiring assets in the industry, but also because moves the company away from its current business strategy which was focused on crop protection.
However, BASF’s decision to acquire Bayer’s assets makes sense when one considers their revenue last year of $5.57 billion euros, a decrease of 4.3% when compared to the year before that.
As BASF and Syngenta prep to acquire Bayer’s assets, the company is working to boost its balance sheet. As of this month, Bayer has made about 2.1 billion euros by selling the shares and bonds of its spinout company Covestro AG (ETR:$1COV).
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