Syngenta to sell off seed business after failed Monsanto takeover

Swiss agrochemical business Syngenta will sell its seed business and buy back $2 billion (£1.3 billion) worth of shares in a move intended to restore shareholder confidence after the company rejected a $47 billion takeover bid by its US rival Monsanto in August 2015.

Monsanto made a series of failed merger offers to Syngenta this summer, before shelving its effort to take over the company following a final $47 billion offer. In a statement last month, the US agrochemical giant stated there was ‘no basis for constructive engagement from Syngenta’.

After Syngenta turned down the offer, its share price plummeted by 18%. The current plan to divest the vegetable seed division is intended to ‘accelerate shareholder value creation’, according to Syngenta’s chairman Michel Demare, and the business will start the process in the next month.