BackBayer to raise $30 billion in share, bond sales for Monsanto
Existing Bayer shareholders will be able to buy 2 new shares for every 23 held at a price of 81, as part of the German firm's fundraising plans to complete the Monsanto acquisition
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London: Bayer AG is planning to raise €6 billion ($7 billion) in a rights offering and €20 billion from bond sales to help fund its $66 billion purchase of Monsanto Corp., an acquisition that received the blessing of US antitrust authorities last week after two years of negotiations.
Existing shareholders in the German company will be able to buy 2 new shares for every 23 held at a price of €81, Bayer said in a statement. That’s a discount of about 22% to Bayer’s closing price on 1 June. A group of 20 banks will underwrite the share sale, Bayer said.
Bayer also plans to issue senior bonds in dollars and euros that will raise a combined €20 billion, it said.
Bayer’s Monsanto acquisition will formally close on 7 June, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeiting reported. Approval from antitrust authorities in Mexico is the only remaining hurdle to the deal.
The agreement with the US Justice Department requires the sale of assets to BASF SE that Bayer has previously announced. The divestiture package is worth about $9 billion, the largest in a US merger-enforcement case, the government said.
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