Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany, has announced an agreement to purchase Monsanto Co., St. Louis, creating a combined company with more than $12 billion in U.S. retirement plan assets.
The deal is valued at $66 billion, an all-cash transaction in which Bayer is paying $128 per share, a 44% premium to Monsanto shareholders, said a joint news release from the companies.
Whether the companies will merge their retirement plans could not be immediately learned.
Monsanto had $2.1 billion in U.S. pension plan assets and $170 million in non-U.S. pension plan assets as of Aug. 31, 2015, according to the company's most recent 10-K filing, and $3.2 billion in 401(k) plan assets as of Dec. 31, according to the company's most recent 11-K filing.
Bayer's U.S. pension plan assets totaled $2.7 billion and 401(k) plan assets totaled $4.1 billion as of Sept. 30, 2015, according to Pensions & Investments data. International retirement plan assets could not be immediately learned.
James Martin, director — trust investments at Bayer Corp., Pittsburgh, and Lee Quarles, Monsanto spokesman, could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
