Syngenta Shares Rise On Report Of $40 Bln Takeover Approach By Monsanto

(RTTNews) - Shares of Syngenta AG (SYT) increased around 5 percent in Swiss trading after Bloomberg reported that U.S. agricultural products giant Monsanto Co. (MON) recently explored a takeover of the Swiss crop chemicals firm. Such a transaction would have allowed Monsanto to move its tax location to Switzerland, the report said.

The talks between Monsanto and Syngenta are currently on hold, but there is a chance the deal could be revived, Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

In the past few months, Monsanto and Syngenta have been in preliminary talks with advisers and informal talk with each other about a combination, but Syngenta's management decided against negotiations. The companies were concerned about the strategic fit, antitrust issues and relocating Monsanto to Switzerland for tax reasons.

The talks, which valued Syngenta at more than $40 billion, collapsed in late May, the report said. Monsanto was also concerned that U.S. politicians would close the inversion loophole, thereby removing that benefit, it was reported.

The combination would have created the biggest agricultural technology company in the world.

The move is another sign of how U.S. firms in many sectors are trying to avoid corporate taxes by moving their headquarters overseas, according to the report. In recent times, U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. offered as much as $117 billion for U.K.- based AstraZeneca Plc, while AbbVie Inc. is eying Dublin-based Shire Plc for $46.5 billion.

In Zurich, Syngenta shares are gaining 15.50 Swiss francs or 4.74 percent, and trading at 342.60 francs.

Monsanto shares closed Monday's trading at $122.10, up $0.02 or 0.02 percent.