Following reports that linked Monsanto - one of the world’s largest patent holders for GM seeds and a major herbicide producer - with German rival BASF, Bayer improved its takeover offer for the Missouri-based agchem giant on Thursday.

In a press release issued late Thursday Bayer said it had increased its takeover bid to $125 per share in an offer submitted to Monsanto on 9th July, and offered a $1.5 billion reverse antitrust break fee in response to Monsanto’s regulatory reservations. Monsanto rejected an offer of $122 per share in May.

In the release, pharmaceutical and chemical giant Bayer, which is based in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region, said it is “prepared to make certain commitments to regulators, if required, to complete the proposed acquisition of Monsanto.”
 
Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said “We are convinced that this transaction is the best opportunity available to provide Monsanto shareholders with highly attractive, immediate and certain value. Bayer is fully committed to pursuing this transaction,” and claimed the revised offer represents a premium of 40 percent over Monsanto’s closing share price on May 9, 2016.

Bayer’s previous pursuit of Monsanto attracted fierce criticism from environmentalists and civil society groups who claimed the merger between two Big Farm juggernauts would place food and farming in a stranglehold and ‘disappear’ a brand which has been tarnished in the public eye.