A merger of agrochemicals giants Monsanto and Syngenta would force their competitors to reconsider their own strategies and review cross-licensing deals, Liam Condon, CEO of Bayer CropScience, told the news agency Bloomberg.
If Monsanto ups its $45 billion bid and wins the hearts and minds of Syngenta shareholders, "it would definitely force a review of how everybody is going to react," Condon said.
“There's only six research and development based players in this industry so if the two biggest were to go together, inevitably it would force others to review their strategies,” he added.
Both Bayer and German rival BASF have been named as candidates to buy Syngenta's seed business, which Monsanto has acknowledged it would sell to allay antitrust concerns.
Bloomberg cites people familiar with the matter as saying Monsanto pitched this idea to Bayer last year.
With sales of $10.4 billion, Bayer is the second largest producer of chemical crop protectants – a market Monsanto is keen to enter to balance a portfolio currently top-heavy with seed products.
The Leverkusen group has a clear view on how to respond in the event Monsanto proceeds with its takeover plan, Condon told the news agency. The CropScience chief noted also that, along with divesting overlapping herbicide assets, combining Monsanto and Syngenta also would mean unraveling an intricate web of agreements in R&D licensing and production.