SA Graan November 2016

78 / 92

Mega deal to forge
new agricultural force
Bayer and Monsanto announced in middle September that
they signed a definitive merger agreement under which
Bayer will acquire Monsanto in an all-cash transaction.
Monsanto’s Board of Directors, Bayer’s Board of Manage-
ment and Bayer’s Supervisory Board have unanimously approved
the agreement.
‘We are pleased to announce the combination of our two great or-
ganisations. This represents a major step forward for our crop sci-
ence business and reinforces Bayer’s leadership position as a global
innovation-driven life science company with leadership positions
in its core segments, delivering substantial value to shareholders,
our customers, employees and society at large,’ said Mr Werner
Baumann (CEO: Bayer AG).
‘This announcement is a testament to everything we’ve achieved
and the value that we have created for our stakeholders at
Monsanto. We believe that this combination with Bayer represents
the most compelling value for our shareowners, with the most
certainty through the all-cash consideration,’ said Mr Hugh Grant
(chairman and CEO: Monsanto).
Enhanced solutions for growers
This transaction brings together two different, but highly comple-
mentary businesses. The combined business will benefit from
Monsanto’s leadership in seeds and traits and climate corporation
platform along with Bayer’s broad crop protection product line
across a comprehensive range of indications and crops in all key ge-
ographies.
As a result, growers will benefit from a broad set of solutions to
meet their current and future needs, including enhanced solutions in
seeds and traits, digital agriculture and crop protection. The combi-
nation also brings together both companies’ leading innovation ca-
pabilities and R&D technology platforms, with an annual pro-forma
R&D budget of approximately EUR 2,5 billion. Over the mid to long-
term, the combined business will be able to accelerate innovation
and provide customers with enhanced solutions and an optimised
product suite based on analytical agronomic insight supported by
digital farming applications.
These are expected to result in significant and lasting benefits for
producers: From improved sourcing and increased convenience to
higher yield, better environmental protection and sustainability.
‘The agricultural industry is at the heart of one of the greatest chal-
lenges of our time: How to feed an additional three billion people
in the world by 2050 in an environmentally sustainable way. It has
been both companies’ belief that this challenge requires a new ap-
proach that more systematically integrates expertise across seeds,
traits and crop protection, including biologicals with a deep com-
mitment to innovation and sustainable agricultural practices,’ said
Mr Liam Condon (member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG
and head of the Crop Science Division).
‘We are entering a new era in agriculture – one with significant chal-
lenges that demand new, sustainable solutions and technologies to
enable growers to produce more with less. This combination with
Bayer will deliver just that – an innovation engine that pairs Bayer’s
crop protection portfolio with our world-class seeds and traits and
digital agriculture tools to help growers overcome the obstacles of
tomorrow. Together Monsanto and Bayer will build on our proud
tradition and respective track records of innovation in the agricul-
tural industry, delivering a more comprehensive and broader set of
solutions to growers,’ said Grant.
RELEVANT
TASNIEM PATEL, Bayer
Cut losses with PRECISION
Plant with VISION
Process Monitor
for Air Seeders
‡ Area
‡ Speed
‡ Tacho up to 4 axles
‡ Alarm on each function
‡ Easy to install
‡ Bin / Tank full
‡ Bin / Tank empty
Proudly Made
in South Africa
Tel: 012 345 3193
Fax: 012 345 6763
Web:
Email:
Sales:
Planter Monitor
‡ Seed per 100m per row, seed population
‡ Hectares worked and much more
‡ Easy to install and maintain
‡ Fertiliser and turning of axles
‡ Can be applied to most planters
‡ Real tough, rust and water resistant