Bayer offers $62 billion for Monsanto

Bayer said it decided to make details of its proposal public after market speculation and investor inquiries about a potential deal.

“We have long respected Monsanto’s business and share their vision to create an integrated business that we believe is capable of generating substantial value for both companies’ shareholders,” Werner Baumann, Bayer’s chief executive, said in a news release.

Together we would draw on the collective expertise of both companies to build a leading agriculture player with exceptional innovation capabilities to the benefit of farmers, consumers, our employees and the communities in which we operate.

Monsanto offered to pay about $47 billion for Syngenta, but the Swiss company repeatedly rejected its approaches, saying the offer was too low and that such a deal would have trouble winning regulatory approval.