FRANKFURT (Reuters) — German drugs and chemicals group Bayer believes further consolidation in the crop chemicals and seeds markets, is likely regardless of the outcome of Monsanto’s bid for Syngenta.
“It remains to be seen when, in what form and with which partners the consolidation will advance,” Bayer CropScience chief executive Liam Condon said in an emailed response to questions from Reuters.
Bayer, the world’s second nlargest crop chemicals provider after Syngenta, declined to say whether it would seek to play an active role in buying assets sold as part of any Monsanto-Syngenta deal or in other market consolidation.
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Swiss Syngenta has rebuffed a US$45 billion cash-and-shares offer from U.S. seeds giant Monsanto, but sources have told Reuters Monsanto is still working on the deal and Syngenta does not consider it dead.
Monsanto commands about a quarter of the $40 billion global seeds market while Syngenta’s own seeds business has a global market share of eight percent and could be worth between $6 billion and more than $8 billion.
It will have to be sold because authorities are expected to block Monsanto from entrenching its dominance of the U.S. soy and corn seeds market.
“The leading market positions of Monsanto and Syngenta in their respective businesses… mean a merger will not be easy. Both may have to make big concessions,” said Condon.
“Irrespective of that, further market consolidation and a stronger integration of expertise is to be reckoned with. In our view, these affect the areas of chemical and biological crop protection, seeds and relevant key technologies and processes.”
