Investors are signalling that Bayer will have to increase its $62bn offer for Monsanto if the German group is to win the US agribusiness and complete the biggest all-cash takeover on record.
A combination between the two would create the world’s largest supplier of seeds and agricultural chemicals, at a time when the sector is being reshaped by a wave of blockbuster deals.
Monsanto declined to comment on the offer, which many analysts expect it to reject as too low. The US company’s shares were trading up 5.27 per cent at $106.79 by early afternoon in New York, significantly below Bayer’s offer price. Bayer’s shares closed down 4.7 per cent.