PRESS RELEASE

In December 2016 Monsanto shareholders voted in favour of the sale of the company to Bayer for US$66 billion, making it the largest-ever foreign corporate takeover by a German company.

Both Bayer and Monsanto are major global manufacturers of agrochemicals and seeds, including genetically modified seed. A merged entity would be the world’s largest supplier by sales of both seeds and pesticides, controlling 29 percent of the world’s commercial seed markets and 24 percent of the world’s pesticide markets. Bayer and Monsanto are major actors in South Africa’s seed and agrochemical industries. The deal will require approval from about 30 regulatory agencies around the world, including by South Africa’s Competition Commission.

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, has produced a briefing paper titled, ‘The BAYER-MONSANTO merger: Implications for South Africa’s agricultural future and its smallholder farmers” which outlines that the proposed merger is taking place against a backdrop of other related mega-mergers in the seed and agro-chemicals sectors: between US chemical giants Dow and DuPont in a deal estimated to be worth US$130 billion, and China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) and Swiss-based Syngenta in a deal worth around US$43 billion.