And then possibly the biggest news of the day yesterday, Monsanto is supposed to be in the sights of Bayer, the German healthcare and agriculture business. Monsanto stock rallied hard in the pre market session, and then opened stronger, only to fall away a little in the normal session. The initial readings from my side suggested it may have been another German company, BASF. Bloomberg had a story early: Bayer Said to Explore Bid for $40 Billion Seed Company Monsanto. The old (150 year plus) German company is unlikely to raise equity.
As Reuters points out Monsanto, once M&A instigator, now in awkward role as possible target. And as we have no real news on the story, we suggest that this may well be an opportunity to cash in the shares, whilst the company is certainly quality, it has disappointed as an investment. There is also large societal pushbacks against their products, my view is still simple. Whilst billions of people go to bed with empty stomachs, our job is to feed those hungry people first before the morality issues are raised. That should stand at the front of the moral arguments. And I am likely to come under attack for this view, we can agree to disagree.