☰

Empresas y finanzas

Syngenta chairman sets criteria for 'serious' takeover offer


    ZURICH (Reuters) - Syngenta's chairman said any takeover offer needed to be at a fair price and provide a high degree of certainty that it will clear regulatory hurdles, as he reaffirmed the Swiss firm's opposition to Monsanto's current proposal.

    Basel-based Syngenta, the world's largest maker of crop chemicals, rebuffed an initial approach by Monsanto in May partly on the grounds it did not address regulatory concerns.

    The U.S. firm then offered to pay Syngenta $2 billion if the merger failed to get approval from regulators, but this was rejected as "wholly inadequate".

    Syngenta Chairman Michel Demare said the company would consider future proposals but only if they fulfilled certain requirements.

    "A serious proposal to buy Syngenta has to be made at full and fair value," Demare said in a video on the company's YouTube channel.

    "It has to recognize for shareholders the inherent combination benefits. And it has to provide a high degree of certainty that the transaction will be closed, including compensation in case the deal fails."

    Demare said Monsanto was trying to buy Syngenta "on the cheap" and that the board had unanimously rejected the initial approach.

    U.S. firm Monsanto posts third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, where it is expected to talk up a possible combination with Syngenta.

    (Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)