Monsanto: Syngenta Not The Only Horse In Crop Protection Acquisition Race

Monsanto Co, having ditched an audacious $46 billion (£30 billion) offer for Syngenta AG, may downshift to a humbler strategy of beefing up its crop protection portfolio through other acquisitions, partnerships and licensing agreements, reports Reuters’ P.J. Huffstutter.

The deal’s collapse leaves Monsanto, Syngenta and other agrochemical sector companies facing a bleak landscape of plummeting grain prices and farm income. In the United States, farmers are tightening their budgets and cutting back on everything from equipment to seeds and pesticides.

Advertisement

On Wednesday, Monsanto said it was focused on its core businesses and plans to resume its two year, $10 billion share repurchase program, which was put on hold while it was bidding for Syngenta.

Top Articles
TFI: Phosphate and Potash Are Critical Minerals, Senate Bill to Solidify

Monsanto declined to say anything more about its next move, including which companies might be the St. Louis-based firm’s next target or how much it would be willing to spend.

Monsanto President Brett Begemann had previously told Reuters in an interview that a Syngenta deal was not its only option going forward.

“There are other alternatives,” Begemann told Reuters last month.

Speaking at the same time, Michael Frank, vice-president of Monsanto’s global commercial business, said Monsanto wanted to expand its portfolio of crop-protection chemicals and seed-treatment products, with Syngenta or without it.

“If we don’t acquire Syngenta, we’ll still be on Plan A. But there will be a substitute company,” Frank said. “It won’t be Syngenta. It will be somebody else, or somebodies else.”

Read the full story from Huffstutter via UK.Reuters.com here.

0
Advertisement