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MONSANTO

New Syngenta bid from Monsanto anticipated

Swiss farm chemicals giant Syngenta's shares made further gains on Monday as market analysts weighed the chances of a higher bid from US rival Monsanto after its offer was rejected last week as being too low.

New Syngenta bid from Monsanto anticipated
Syngenta headquarters in Basel. Photo: Syngenta

Shares climbed by 2.34 percent to 406.20 francs in morning trade in Zurich.

They had bolted 19.3 percent on Friday after the Basel-based firm turned down the offer.
   
Syngenta said Monsanto had made an offer of 449 Swiss francs ($486) per share with approximately 45 percent in cash, but claimed it was undervalued.
   
The US firm had timed the offer with a slackening in Syngenta's performance but the Swiss firm said the proposal still did not "reflect the outstanding growth prospects" of the company.
   
"The offer fundamentally undervalues Syngenta's prospects and underestimates the significant execution risks, including regulatory and public scrutiny at multiple levels in many countries," it said.
   
Syngenta chairman Michel Demare said although the company's "valuation is currently affected by short term currency and commodity price movements, the business outlook is strong, with emerging markets accounting for over 50 percent of our sales."
   
Some analysts said on Monday that Monsanto could make an improved offer.
   
Markus Mayer, an analyst at Baader Helvea said it was " just the beginning in the takeover game" and that the US company could make an offer of 500 Swiss francs per share.
   
Patrick Rafaisz, an analyst at Vontobel, also said that several scenarios could be considered, including Monsanto pushing with an unfriendly bid or
offering a higher price. He also forecast a price of around 500 francs saying "this story is not yet over."
   
The companies held preliminary talks last year with advisers about a combination, before Syngenta's management decided against negotiations,
sources told Bloomberg at that time.
   
Syngenta was formed in 2000 by the merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals.

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MONSANTO

French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers

France has opened a preliminary enquiry into allegations that US pesticides maker Monsanto had information illegally collected on the views and pliability of hundreds of high-profile figures and media outlets.

French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers
Activists from the 'Attac' protest group scale the offices of Bayer -which recently acquired Monsanto- in La Garenne Colombes near the financial district of La Defence on the outskirts of Paris. Photo
Paris judicial police will carry out the probe following a complaint by the daily Le Monde and one of its journalists, whose names appear on the list, the Paris prosecutor's office said.
 
Two anti-pesticide NGOs — Foodwatch and Generations Futures — are also preparing to lodge legal complaints over the alleged lists.
 
The investigators will look into the possible “collection of personal information by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means”.
   
US giant Monsanto allegedly had public relations agency FleishmanHillard draw up the files on the opinions of the targeted people and media bodies on the controversial weedkiller glyphosate and on genetically modified crops as 
well as their propensity to be influenced in their opinions.
 
 
Figuring on the list are politicians, scientists and journalists — including four from AFP (Agence France-Presse). Information was collected on their views on pesticides and on Monsanto as well as their leisure pursuits, addresses and phone numbers, according to the France 2 public television channel.
   
Some of the names were listed under categories such as “priority targets” and “potential allies to recruit”, according to reports.
   
France's former environment minister Segolene Royal, whose name was said to appear on the lists, said the allegation “says a lot about the methods of lobbyists… they carry out spying, infiltration, seek to influence, sometimes financially I imagine”, adding that other companies are likely to indulge in similar practices.
   
A spokesman for FleishmanHillard told AFP: “FleishmanHillard and our staff are committed to compliance with applicable laws and we are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct. 
   
“We continue to take that responsibility very seriously and will carefully examine the questions raised by certain media outlets about the lists of stakeholders that included publicly available information.”
   
Glyphosate developer Monsanto was convicted in the United States in 2018 and 2019 of not taking necessary steps to warn of the potential risks of Roundup — their weedkiller containing the chemical, which two California juries found caused cancer in two users.
   
German pharmaceutical firm Bayer, which bought Monsanto last year, announced last month that over 13,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller have been launched in the US. 
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