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SAAB

Merbanco pulls out of race to buy Saab

The CEO of the small US investment company has emailed independent enthusiast website SaabsUnited.com to say GM has turned down the firm’s bid to buy Saab.

Published: 15 January 2010 06:47 CET
Merbanco pulls out of race to buy Saab

On Friday the website published a statement from Merbanco CEO Christopher Johnston.

”Despite our best efforts and meeting the Sellers requirements, we were just notified we were not selected to buy Saab,” he said. ”We are disappointed and quite tired.”

SaabsUnited.com said the comments were confirmed in private email correspondence.

”Sometimes the best deal is the one you don’t do,” Johnston concluded as the Wyoming-based firm were forced to throw in the towel.

The news comes ahead of General Motors’s extended January 7th deadline for offers to by Swedish unit Saab Automobile.

GM has confirmed it has received a number of bids with Dutch sportscar maker Spyker in the running.

A group comprising of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and Genii Capital, a Luxembourg investment firm has announced a bid to rescue the ailing carmaker.

Swedish media has also reported a third bid approach by Swedish business leaders led by Jan Nygren, a former cabinet minister.

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MONSANTO

Bayer buys Monsanto for $66 bn after months-long pursuit

German chemicals giant Bayer said on Wednesday it had signed a $66 billion (€58.8 billion) takeover deal with US seeds and pesticides firm Monsanto.

Published: 14 September 2016 14:52 CEST
Bayer buys Monsanto for $66 bn after months-long pursuit
Photo: DPA

“Bayer and Monsanto today announced that they signed a definitive merger agreement under which Bayer will acquire Monsanto for USD 128 per share in an all-cash transaction,” the firms said in a statement.

Bayer repeatedly increased its offer to Monsanto since its first $122-per-share bid, but the US firm had until now held out for more cash.

“This represents a major step forward for our crop science business,” Bayer chief executive Werner Baumann said in the statement.

The two firms said that the deal “brings together two different, but highly complementary” businesses.

Monsanto shareholders still have to approve the deal, as do regulators – with Bayer staking a $2 billion reverse antitrust break fee in case the merger is rejected by US or European authorities.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

Bayer has been pursuing Monsanto since late May, when it made an initial bid of $122 per share (€109), valuing the US genetically modified (GM) crop giant at $62 billion. Monsanto rejected that bid, but said it was “open” to further talks.

Since then the German chemicals behemoth has raised its offer twice, first to $125 per share in July and then to $127.50 last week, but was rebuffed each time.

Mosanto held out for more money, calling the July bid “insufficient”.

The long-mooted tie-up has rung alarms bells for some farmers who fear the power of the combined company in the market for seeds and pesticides, while opponents of genetically-modified food in Europe worry about Monsanto's influence on the continent.

“We do not like this transaction, because we think that Bayer is overpaying significantly,” wrote analyst Peter Spengler of DZ bank on Wednesday before the deal was confirmed.

Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) seed offerings and Climate Corp data analytics offering to farmers would fit in with Bayer's crop protection lines, the firms said in the statement announcing the deal.

The combined group will also emerge with a total research and development budget of €2.5 billion. Added together, Bayer and Monsanto booked sales of €23 billion in 2015.

Bayer said that it expects synergy savings from the merger will allow it to add $1.5 billion to its underlying profit as measured by EBITDA within three years.

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