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 Bayer has signed a deal that includes a fee of $2 billion should the
transaction fail to get regulatory clearance as planned, the person
said. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2017, the source
told Reuters on Wednesday.
Monsanto and Bayer were not immediately available for comment.
Shares in Bayer extended gains to trade 3 percent higher on the
news, outperforming.
At a total deal value of close to $66 billion - based on 442 million
Monsanto shares and the U.S. group's net debt of $9.3 billion as per
end-May - it will be the largest transaction ever involving a German
buyer.
It would trump Daimler's merger deal with Chrysler in 1998, which
valued the U.S. carmaker at more than $40 billion. It will also be
the largest all-cash transaction on record, ahead of brewer InBev's
$60.4 billion offer for Anheuser-Busch in 2008.
The two companies 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.
(Writing by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
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