Bayer offers $65 billion to buy Monsanto

LEVERKUSEN , Germany, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Bayer AG offered $65 billion in cash Tuesday to take over Monsanto Company, an improvement on a $63.5 billion offer.

The German company foresees a conglomerate spanning pharmaceuticals, health products, pesticides and U.S.-based Monsanto's specialty, agriculture and plant seeds. Bayer is strongest in European and Asian markets and could benefit from Monsanto's North American presence.

Monsanto declined two previous offers from Bayer, which confirmed "advanced negotiations" with Monsanto in a statement Tuesday. It added Bayer offered $127.50 per share for Monsanto, up from previous offers of $122 and $125. Monsanto shares on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $107.44 on Friday.

Bayer has said a combined company could create synergies of $1.5 billion over three years.

Any deal would be subject to regulatory approval, and would follow a number of mergers of large companies in agribusiness and the chemical industry. Dow Chemical Company and DuPont merged in 2014, forming a $130 billion company, and ChemChina purchased Syngenta, a company Monsanto attempted to acquire, for $43 billion in February.