(Reuters) — Monsanto has ruled out raising its non-binding US$45 billion offer for Swiss rival Syngenta unless the target company gives it access to business data.
Monsanto hosted meetings across Europe last week to woo Syngenta investors.
Two Monsanto top executives said in one of the gatherings that only a due diligence assessment of Syngenta’s operations could tell whether there was room for a higher offer than the 449 Swiss francs per share proposed so far, a person with knowledge of the meeting said June 10.
Syngenta confirmed it had not granted the suitor access to privileged business data.
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“Monsanto is a competitor to many aspects of Syngenta’s business. It would be madness to let a company see Syngenta’s books without adequate assurance on the considerable regulatory risks, and with an offer price which is clearly unacceptable,” a spokesperson said.
A Monsanto spokesperson said, “based on public information, our proposal of 449 CHF per share represents full and compelling value for Syngenta. If Syngenta can provide us access to due diligence as to its strategic plans and other non-public information, and if that information shows results or synergy potential that exceeds what we and investors have assumed based on public information, we would consider that new information in order to refine our view on value.”
Separately, Monsanto executive Scott Partridge on National Public Radio on June 9 said there was no going beyond its current bid, which is a 43 percent premium over what Syngenta was trading at before deal talks were reported in late April.
“We’re not preparing to make another bid. We believe the bid we’ve made is more than generous,” Partridge said.
Monsanto’s initial approach was rebuffed by Syngenta in May partly on the grounds that the deal would not get past antitrust regulators.
The U.S. agrochemicals firm said it had offered to pay Syngenta $2 billion if the merger failed to get approval from regulators, but this was rejected as “wholly inadequate”.
In a June 6 letter to Syngenta management published by Monsanto, the U.S. company’s chief executive Hugh Grant expressed “disappointment with the pace of progress” of exploratory talks.
The stock market has been dubious about the likelihood of a deal succeeding.
