The chair of Swiss agribusiness Syngenta has spoken publicly about recent takeover bids from seed giant Monsanto. Michel Demaré, chair of Syngenta’s board of directors, said in an interview on Tuesday that any future offer from Monsanto needed to be at a “full and fair” price and include assurances that regulatory hurdles would be cleared in the acquisition.

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Demaré was also skeptical of speculation about a possible shift of operations to the UK for a combined company, stating that Syngenta and its legacy companies enjoy a “very competitive tax rate” in Basel, where the company has been based for 250 years.

On the subject of regulatory approval, he warned that regulators in India, China and South America could be expected to look into a conglomeration between the two agri-businesses, and not only authorities in Europe and North America, where the two firms are based. He also said a merger would be likely to take longer and require more disposals of assets than Monsanto seems to appreciate, and concluded that a failure to gain regulatory approval for the takeover is still a distinct possibility.

Monsanto is expected to post its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and it is presumed that a possible merger with Syngenta will be discussed in the release.