“German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer AG has won over US seeds firm Monsanto Co. with an improved takeover offer of around $66 billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time. The $128 a share deal, up from Bayer’s previous offer of $127.50 a share, is the biggest of the year so far and the largest cash bid on record. The deal will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry,” reported Mint.
The market capitalisation of Monsanto India Ltd is around $652m, according to website Infinancials. According to Deutsche Welle, the combined market value of both Indian entities together will be $2.83bn.
Luthra & Luthra senior partner Mohit Saraf is understood to have led on the Indian leg of the deal for Bayer.
BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, the lead financial advisers on the deal, were advised on the India element of the deal by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas managing partner Cyril Shroff, with corporate partners Ravi Kumar and Anchal Dhir.
We could not confirm at the time of publication whether Monsanto India had a domestic adviser, but we will update the story if we get any news on that front.
However, the deal is still subject to several complex competition clearances, especially in India, according to the Business Standard.
International giant
According to Bloomberg Law Big Law Business, Monsanto’s US stock exchange filing listed the following as international advisers (emphasis added):
BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse are acting as lead financial advisors and structuring banks to Bayer in addition to providing committed financing for the transaction; Rothschild has been retained as an additional financial advisor to Bayer. Bayer’s legal advisors are Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (M&A) and Allen & Overy LLP (Financing).
Morgan Stanley & Co. and Ducera Partners are acting as financial advisors, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting as legal advisor to Monsanto.
In addition, Arnold & Porter has been advising Monsanto on the antitrust aspects of the deal, with a team that includes Jonathan Gleklen, Pete Levitas, and Barbara Wootton in Washington, DC and Tim Frazer in London.
Comments
And how! In your face, haters!!
Your post sounds like poor people complaining that money cannot buy happiness. Sour grapes.
Luthra is killing it, and Mohit leading from the front.
Any idea who else was involved from the firm? Dipti and team? They are the ones who have the most experience in listed M&A space
One question- would publications like mergermarket take the entire deal value of 66 billion for the preparation of the M&A league table for India even though the India leg might not that be that substantial?
It's easier to criticise others. I have more than 8 years of work experience, and have friends in other law firms. Please ask around and everyone would tell you that Luthra lawyers are better trained and more "hands on" than the peers. Yes, Luthra does not do as much M&A as others, but some of its teams (general corporate / structuring), IP, Competition Law, Direct Tax, are unmatched. It is more of a full service law firms than its peers like AZB, Khaitan, definitely Trilegal and JSA.
I agree that Luthra may be going through a rough patch, but the fundamentals are rock solid and that is what would prevail at the end of the day.
Also, ask anyone around. Luthra Delhi is still preferred over all its peers other than SAM. They just need to build their Mumbai practice a bit more and they will be back in the game.