What was the strategic rationale for Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto? Would you describe the transaction as offensive or defensive from Bayer’s perspective and why?

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Answer the questions listed below. Your responses should be in narrative form. Your analysis, supporting your responses, must be adequately developed. Superficial or shallow analyses will earn poor grades. The open-ended questions are seeking your opinions. A “no opinion” response will earn a failing grade. Your opinions must be adequately supported. With minor exceptions, your assertions of facts must include proper citations that back up your claims. The exceptions of this requirement comprise assertions of common knowledge and facts presented in the article.

QUESTIONS: 1. What was the strategic rationale for Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto? Would you describe the transaction as offensive or defensive from Bayer’s perspective and why? 2. Based on the market’s subsequent reaction to the transaction, what is the total cost potentially being accorded the Roundup litigation risk (assuming no changes in the pre-merger value of both companies)? How does this compare to the range of analyst estimates referenced in the article? To the extent that there are differences amongst these figures, how would you explain them? 3. Assuming you still wanted to acquire Monsanto, if you were Bayer’s CEO, what might you have done differently (recognizing the benefits of hindsight)? https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blackboard.learn.xythos.prod/5a30bcf95ea52/18368571?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27How%2520Bayer-Monsanto%2520Became%2520One%2520of%2520the%2520Worst%2520Corporate%2520Deals%25E2%2580%2594in%252012%2520Charts%2520-%2520WSJ.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20190910T164548Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIL7WQYDOOHAZJGWQ%2F20190910%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=91abb9f79250cd8edbe9c7c89aa654073cd858b93a1c7062c07a7d153d2b0ec2