New York - Bayer’s proposed $62 billion (R968bn) purchase of seed maker Monsanto could mean the end of one of the most derided names in corporate history.
As it has with earlier takeovers, Bayer would probably abandon the target’s brand name should the deal go through, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bayer no longer uses the Schering name after buying the company for about $22bn in 2006.
Monsanto has sold genetically modified seeds for two decades, making it a lightning rod for activists who say the technology carries potential health risks. A review last week from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found genetically engineered crops don’t pose additional dangers to humans compared with conventionally-bred foods.
The company also has been faulted for legal tactics used to enforce its patents, accused of being a factor in farmer suicides in India and blamed for contributing to the decline of the monarch butterfly.
Read also: Bayer offers $62bn in cash for Monsanto
While Monsanto has rejected criticism in each case, the controversies have marred its image.
“It is too early to speculate about what the name of the company is going to be,” Bayer chief executive Werner Baumann said.
“But let me tell you that Bayer’s name and Bayer’s reputation stand for science, innovation and an utmost level of responsibility for societal needs, and that is what we are going to leverage on, also for the combined company going forward.”
Monsanto, based in St Louis, has garnered a “poor” rating in Harris Poll’s 2015 study of America’s most loved and hated companies. It ranked fourth-lowest – not as bad as bottom-of-the-table Goldman Sachs Group, but lagging behind companies, including BP and Halliburton, both of which were involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
BLOOMBERG