Bayer AG Chief Financial Officer Johannes Dietsch said this week that the company will stick to its plan to raise $19 billion in equity before moving on to a rights and bond issue, providing more detail on the financing for the German pharmaceutical giant’s takeover of U.S. seed maker Monsanto Company.
“We want to do the equity first before we enter the bond markets, Dietsch said, during a call with analysts. Should the company decide to go for a large or “very large” rights issue, Bayer would wait until there was more visibility on the regulatory outlook for the deal, he said.
Bayer says it is confidant that the planned $57 billion acquisition of Monsanto would pass regulatory hurdles by the end of the year, despite delays with U.S. and European antitrust authorities. Dietsch’s comments came as Bayer reported a 26-percent decline in net profit from a year earlier due to one-time expenses, such as the costs for the bridge loan for the Monsanto transaction.
