Bayer, Monsanto CEOs Pitch Deal to Trump
12 January 2017 - 7:51AM
Dow Jones News
By Jacob Bunge
Top executives of Bayer AG and Monsanto Co. met with
President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday in New York to pitch the
benefits of their planned deal.
Bayer Chief Executive Werner Baumann and Monsanto CEO and
Chairman Hugh Grant outlined at the meeting Bayer's planned $57
billion purchase of Monsanto, agreed in September, representatives
for the companies said.
The German pharmaceutical giant's planned purchase of Monsanto
is one of three planned multibillion-dollar deals set to reshape
the global seed and pesticide industry. While the companies have
said that combining Bayer's broad portfolio of pesticides with
Monsanto's sector-leading capabilities in seed engineering will
accelerate breakthroughs in new crops and sprays, some farmers
worry that the consolidation will boost the market power of the
sector's biggest players and leave farmers with fewer choices for
critical supplies, and higher prices.
Several members of Mr. Trump's agricultural advisory committee,
formed to advise Mr. Trump on farm policy during last year's
presidential campaign, have spoken out against the merger deals and
called for the president-elect to block them. Mr. Trump has
previously expressed skepticism about megamergers, including
AT&T Inc.'s planned purchase of Time Warner Inc., but he hasn't
weighed in on the agricultural deals.
Monsanto's Mr. Grant said in an interview last month that
Monsanto hadn't engaged with the Trump transition team regarding
the Bayer deal, but that the sale would translate to larger
investment in research and development that would benefit farmers
and create new jobs.
Bruce Rastetter, a member of Mr. Trump's agricultural committee
and chief executive of Summit Agricultural Group, an Iowa-based
grain and livestock farming operation, said he plans to raise his
concerns about the mergers directly with Mr. Trump in the near
future.
The meeting between the Bayer and Monsanto executives and Mr.
Trump was reported earlier by Fox Business Network.
Beyond Bayer and Monsanto, China National Chemical Corp. is
pursuing a $43 billion deal for Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG,
while Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. are pursuing their own merger
that would unite those companies' seed and crop chemical
businesses.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 11, 2017 15:36 ET (20:36 GMT)
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