REUTERS: Possible Monsanto, Syngenta Deal Still Has Its Skeptics
June 5, 2015 U.S. agrochemicals firm Monsanto Co. and its advisers are working flat out to accommodate Syngenta’s qualms about regulatory hurdles to a deal whose perils may well outweigh the rewards, report Pamela Barbaglia and Ludwig Burger for Reuters.
Investment bankers and analysts expect Monsanto to increase its bid by about 10%, to just short of 500 SFr, while others say Monsanto cannot afford to be scorned by the target again and would be ready to offer potentially close to 550 SFr.
But chances that antitrust regulators will block the deal remain high since the combined entity would control more of 40% of the U.S. seeds market.
“The deal may not happen,” said a source close to Syngenta, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He mentioned growing scepticism among Syngenta’s board that antitrust hurdles could be overcome.
Driven by regulatory concerns, Monsanto said on May 20 it would make the deal “really clean” and “really easy to get done,” in the words of the U.S. group’s Chief Operating Officer Brett Begemann, by selling Syngenta’s entire seeds business and certain crop chemical assets.
Yet the deal is anything but easy.
Sources said Monsanto has recently made changes to its team of external legal advisers in an effort to win Syngenta’s support, which it needs to follow the deal through.
Antitrust advisers of both companies have met twice in New York, the most recent a week ago, a person familiar with the matter said, but it remains unclear whether there has been any agreement.
Selling Syngenta’s seeds business, which accounts for about 30% of the group’s sales and which commands an 8% global market share, means unravelling Syngenta’s “integrated” strategy of managing the seeds and pesticides product lines as one, in place since 2011.
Read the full story over at Reuters.com.
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