Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (DB:BAYN) and Bayer CropScience Limited (BSE:506285) made an offer to acquire a 26% stake in Monsanto India Limited (NSEI:MONSANTO) for INR 13.1 billion on September 14, 2016. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft will acquire up to 4.5 million shares of Monsanto India Limited at INR 2,926.87 per share in cash. Post completion, Bayer will be the company name. Monsanto will no longer be a company name. The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals. Completion of the offer is also subject to receipt of statutory approvals required, if any, including the approval of the Competition Commission of India. Bayer is also required to sell off its entire cotton, canola, soybean and vegetable seeds businesses, as well as its digital farming business and Liberty herbicide. The offer is not conditional upon any minimum level of acceptance. As of March 24, 2017, the Stock Exchange advised Monsanto India Limited to provide clarification/confirmation on news item relating to rejection of Competition Commission of India's approval on the transaction. As per the announcement of September 20, 2017, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft has filed an application with the European Commission to extend the review deadline by 10 days, until January 22, 2018. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the transaction on December 1, 2017. As on December 1, 2017, the transaction is expected to close in early 2018. As of January 5, 2018, the Competition Commission of India has invited comments from public in respect of proposed combination. The deal requires approval from 30 countries, out of which 14 have approved the merger. It is expected that by April 2018 or May 2018, approvals from all 30 countries will be received. Bayer expects the approval from CCI by May 2018. As on January 29, 2018, antitrust investigators of European Union further extended their investigation until March 12, 2018. On March 13, 2018, the deal is conditionally approved by China's commerce ministry. On March 21, 2018, the transaction has been approved by the European Commission. As of May 22, 2018, Competition Commission of India has approved the transaction. As of May 29, 2018, antitrust division of the United States Department of Justice approved the deal.

As on August 8, 2018, the independent Board committee of Monsanto India Limited believes that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable, the shareholders of Monsanto India Limited should independently evaluate the offer and take an informed decision. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2017. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018. As of June 4, 2018, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft has received all regulatory approvals and plans to close the transaction on June 7, 2018. As on June 13, 2018, the offer will open on July 27, 2018 and close on August 09, 2018. As of August 14, 2018, subsequent offer period has been announced from August 24, 2018 to September 6, 2018. The shareholders of Bayer Aktiengesellschaft are expected to benefit from growth in EPS (earnings per share) as a result of accretion from the merger.

Jagan Dholakia and Gautam Dhaliwal of DSP Merrill Lynch Limited and Hariharan Raman of Credit Suisse Securities (India) Private Limited acted as managers to the offer for Bayer Aktiengesellschaft. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP acted as legal advisor for Monsanto. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP and Dechert LLP acted as legal advisors to Monsanto Company. Matthew G. Hurd, Eric M. Krautheimer, Carsten Berrar, Bernd P. Delahaye, Jason T. Anderson, Evan S. Simpson, Polina A. Demina, Tyler T. Rosenbaum, Dariush Bahreini, Matthew M. Friestedt, J. Michael Snypes Jr., Kristen B. Klein, Spencer F. Simon, RuiHui Yu, Ronald E. Creamer Jr., Eric M. Lopata, Matthew J. Brennan, Eric J. Kadel Jr., S. Neal McKnight, Benjamin S.D. Kent, Steven L. Holley, Juan Rodriguez, Bradley P. Smith, Axel Beckmerhagen, Patrick Gorman and Dustin F. Guzior of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as legal advisor to Bayer AG. Naval Chopra, Aparna Mehra, Rohan Arora, Saattvic, Aman Sethi, Nitika Dwivedi, Geet Sawhney, Gayatri Pradhan, Akila Agarwal, Sourav Kanti Biswas, Megha Bhargawa and Ishita Khandelwal of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co acted as legal advisors for Monsanto India Limited. Luthra & Luthra Law Offices acted as legal advisor for Bayer Aktiengesellschaft. Ernst & Young Merchant Banking Services Private Limited acted as financial advisor for Ernst & Young Merchant Banking Services Private Limited. Lesley Morphet, Nkonzo Hlatshwayo, Julia Sham, Janine Reddi , Phuti Mashalane , Shaaista Thabit and Kyle Bowles of Hogan Lovelles acted as legal advisors to Bayer AG. Alexander Schlee, Charles Eypper, Peter Waltz, Marco Carbonare and Stephan Oppenhoff of Linklaters represented Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Group AG TS and Rothschild as financial advisors to Bayer AG. Ducera Partners acted as financial advisor to Monsanto Company. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Monsanto Company. Creighton Condon, Clare O'Brien, Thomas König, Georg Thoma, Philipp Jaspers and Derrick Lott of Shearman & Sterling represented Credit Suisse, financial advisor to Bayer. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal advisor to Monsanto.

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (DB:BAYN) and Bayer CropScience Limited (BSE:506285) completed the acquisition of 9.7% stake in Monsanto India Limited (NSEI:MONSANTO) on September 6, 2018. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft and Bayer CropScience Limited acquired 1.67 million shares, representing 9.7% stake at offer per share INR 2.9.