Germany’s Bayer AG (BAYER-AG) is exploring a bid for U.S. seed company Monsanto Co (MON), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Monsanto lost out to ChemChina in its bid to buy seeds and pesticides firm Syngenta last year.
State-owned ChemChina’s deal for Syngenta and a merger between DuPont and Dow Chemical has dramatically changed the agricultural landscape in a matter of months.
Monsanto share’s were up 17.7 percent at $106.30 in premarket trading on Thursday.
Bayer has discussed how to finance a deal including potential asset sales, Bloomberg reported.
No final decision has been made and Bayer could decide against a bid or pursue other transactions with Monsanto, including joint ventures or asset sales, Bloomberg quoted the people as saying.
Monsanto, which had a market value of about $40 billion as of Wednesday close, declined to comment.
Bayer also declined to comment.
Street Insider, citing sources, reported late on Wednesday that Germany’s BASF SE was considering a bid for Monsanto.