NEW YORK/FRANKFURT: German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer has won over US seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover offer of around $66 billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time.
The $128 a share deal, up from Bayer's previous offer of $127.50 a share, is the biggest of the year so far and the largest cash bid on record.
The deal will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry.
However, competition authorities are likely to scrutinize the tie-up closely, and some of Bayer's own shareholders have been highly critical of a takeover plan which they say risks overpaying and neglecting the company's pharmaceutical business.
The transaction includes a break-fee of $2 billion that Bayer will pay to Monsanto should it fail to get regulatory clearance. Bayer expects the deal to close by the end of 2017.
The details confirm what a source close to the matter told Reuters earlier.
Bernstein Research analysts said on Tuesday they saw only a 50 percent chance of the deal winning regulatory clearance, although they cited a survey among investors that put the likelihood at 70 percent on average
"We believe political pushback to this deal, ranging from farmer dissatisfaction with all their suppliers consolidating in the face of low farm net incomes to dissatisfaction with Monsanto leaving the United States, could provide significant delays and complications," they wrote in a research note.
Bayer said it was offering a 44 percent premium to Monsanto's share price on May 9, the day before it made its first written proposal.
It plans to raise $19 billion to help fund the deal by issuing convertible bonds and new shares to its existing shareholders, and said banks had also committed to providing $57 billion of bridge financing.
At 1140 GMT, Bayer shares were up 2.2 percent at 95.32 euros. Monsanto's were up 0.2 percent at $106.3 in premarket trade.
ONE-STOP SHOP
Bayer's move to combine its crop chemicals business, the world's second largest after Syngenta AG, with Monsanto's industry leading seeds business, is the latest in a series of major tie-ups in the agrochemicals sector.
The German company is aiming to create a one-stop shop for seeds, crop chemicals and computer-aided services to farmers.
That was also the idea behind Monsanto's swoop on Syngenta last year, which the Swiss company fended off, only to agree later to a takeover by China's state-owned ChemChina.
Elsewhere in the industry, US chemicals giants Dow Chemical and DuPont plan to merge and later spin off their respective seeds and crop chemicals operations into a major agribusiness.
The Bayer-Monsanto deal will be the largest ever involving a German buyer, beating Daimler's tie-up with Chrysler in 1998, which valued the US carmaker at more than $40 billion. It will also be the largest all-cash transaction on record, ahead of InBev's $60.4 billion offer for Anheuser-Busch in 2008.
Bayer said it expected the deal to boost its core earnings per share in the first full year following completion, and by a double-digit percentage in the third year.
Bayer and Monsanto were in talks to sound out ways to combine their businesses as early as March, which culminated in Bayer coming out with an initial $122 per-share takeover proposal in May.
Antitrust experts have said regulators will likely demand the sale of some soybeans, cotton and canola seed assets as a condition for approving the deal.
Bayer said BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JP Morgan had committed to providing the bridge financing.
BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse are acting as lead financial advisers to Bayer, with Rothschild as an additional adviser. Bayer's legal advisers are Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Allen & Overy LLP.
Morgan Stanley and Ducera Partners are acting as financial advisers to Monsanto, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz its legal adviser.
Bayer to take over Monsanto with $66bn offer
Bayer to take over Monsanto with $66bn offer
Dubai’s luxury residential market sees record $9bn sales in 2025: Knight Frank
RIYADH: Dubai’s luxury residential market hit a record in 2025, with sales of homes priced above $10 million rising 27.7 percent from a year earlier to $9.05 billion, according to Knight Frank.
A total of 500 homes worth more than $10 million changed hands during the year, up from just 30 such deals recorded in 2020. Within that segment, 68 properties were sold for more than $25 million, marking a 45 percent year-on-year increase, the property consultancy said.
The findings underscore Dubai’s growing status as a global hub for high-net-worth individuals, who are increasingly viewing the emirate not just as a part-time business base but as a full-time home.
In November, a separate analysis by Savills found that Dubai topped the rankings as the leading destination for HNWIs globally, surpassing New York and Singapore.
Commenting on the latest report, Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank, said: “Dubai’s meteoric rise as the world’s busiest market for $10 million+ homes, having increased from just 30 sales in 2020 to 500 by the end of 2025, is best reflected in the emirate’s growing reputation as a magnet for the global elite.”
The final quarter of 2025 recorded 143 sales transactions for properties valued at more than $10 million, representing a 39 percent increase compared to the previous quarter.
The report added that demand for luxury residential properties remains highly concentrated in destination communities that combine waterfront living, security and amenities into self-contained ecosystems.
Palm Jumeirah led fourth-quarter sales in the $10 million-plus segment with 28 transactions, followed by Palm Jebel Ali with 22. La Mer, Jumeirah 2 and Tilal Al Ghaf also ranked among the most active neighborhoods at the top end of the market.
“Dubai’s residential market has differentiated itself from regional cities and many other global gateway locations through the creation of destination communities that integrate leisure, safety and convenience into self-contained ecosystems,” said Will Mckintosh, regional partner, Knight Frank’s head of Residential at MENA.
Mckintosh added: “At 50 percent larger than its established neighbor Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali remains a destination to watch. While it will obviously take time to reach the maturity of other established communities, the 2025 sales figures are a welcome indication of its high potential and the growing demand from the wealthiest buyers for prime waterfront property and the luxury Dubai lifestyle.”
The most expensive individual purchase in the fourth quarter was in the Business Bay community, where a six-bedroom apartment in Bugatti Residences by Binghatti sold for $149.7 million.
Knight Frank said Dubai’s real estate market is moving beyond its “emerging” phase to become an “emerged” market, marked by greater stability.
“Historical patterns of sharp market cycles, largely fueled by speculative investment, have receded and, while natural market cycles will persist, we believe the volatility associated with previous speculative booms is less likely in this new era of established residency,” said Durrani.
He added: “As the market extends past its five-year property price rally, the rate of price rises across the mainstream market is starting to slow, albeit they continue to rise. After growing by 194 percent since the fourth quarter of 2020, we believe prime values will expand by a further 3 percent during 2026.”
