“Bayer and Monsanto today announced that they signed a definitive merger agreement under which Bayer will acquire Monsanto for USD 128 per share in an all-cash transaction,” the firms said in a statement.
Bayer repeatedly increased its offer to Monsanto since its first $122-per-share bid, but the US firm had until now held out for more cash.
“This represents a major step forward for our crop science business,” Bayer chief executive Werner Baumann said in the statement.
The two firms said that the deal “brings together two different, but highly complementary” businesses.
Monsanto shareholders still have to approve the deal, as do regulators — with Bayer staking a $2 billion reverse antitrust break fee in case the merger is rejected by US or European authorities.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
Bayer has been pursuing Monsanto since late May, when it made an initial bid of $122 per share (109 euros), valuing the US genetically modified (GM) crop giant at $62 billion.
Monsanto rejected that bid, but said it was “open” to further talks.
While Tesla is still working on ramping up Model 3 production, it doesn’t sound like its future vehicles’ development has fallen by the wayside. The automaker has revealed another shadowy sketch of the Model Y crossover SUV during its most recent shareholders meeting. Based on the photo Electrek grabbed, it doesn’t reveal a lot about the vehicle — the design sketch at least shows Model Y from a different angle than what the first photo showed — but Tesla chief Elon Musk shared a few details about the crossover. He said Model Y won’t have any leather and even joked that it might not have a steering wheel at all.
“Model Y will not have any leather in it,” the CEO said, “even in the steering wheel… even if it does have a steering wheel.” Musk might be joking, might but it won’t come as a surprise if Tesla decides not to put a steering wheel in the vehicle, seeing as other automakers intend to do the same for their fully autonomous vehicles. GM, for instance, announced its plans to release cars with no steering wheels in 2019 earlier this year. We’ll know for sure once Tesla launches the electric SUV, which could happen anytime between the end of this year and mid-2019.
