(Ecofin Agency) - German chemist Bayer has announced yesterday that it has acquired US firm Monsanto for €59 billion ($66 billion). Through this, the firm thus becomes the world’s leading pesticide and seed manufacturer.

The deal which values Monsanto’s share at $128 comes at end of four months of talks during which the St-Louis firm rejected, three times, Bayer’s offers. Though slightly below Monsanto’s expectations which aimed for a $130-$150 per share range, this amount is still 40% more than what its share’s value in May 2016 – at the time of the first bid – French newspaper Le Monde indicates.

The acquisition, which is the most significant ever made by a German group, took place in a context which highly favors such transactions in the seed and pesticide industry. Indeed, given actual low interest rates and fall in prices of commodities, mergers and acquisitions similar to the Bayer-Monsanto deal have increased in number. Such is the case of Swiss seed maker Syngenta which was acquired by Chinese ChemChina, or Canadian firms Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and Agrium who merged into the world’s top fertilizer manufacturer.

By buying Monsanto, Bayer also inherited the firm’s issues in Africa. In fact, the US firm was in conflict with the government of Burkina Faso who denounced the poor quality of the cotton fiber produced from its genetically modified seeds.

Aaron Akinocho