Bayer AG offered to buy Monsanto Co. for $62 billion last week, but Monsanto declined, according to the New York Times.
Bayer shares dropped to about $95 and Monsanto shares closed Monday at $106, the Times reported.
If combined, the result would be $67 billion in sales, producing medicine, genetically modified seeds and pesticides.
But some stock analysts are leery of a merger between the companies.
“Monsanto doesn’t want to be bought. They have a history of being a standalone company, very focused long term, and they consider themselves the best company in the industry,” Jonas Oxgaard, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York told Bloomberg.
Monsanto views itself more valuable than Bayer’s offer, as they expect to see significant growth in the next 10 years, Oxgaard said.
“Together, we would draw on the collective expertise of both companies to build a leading agriculture player with exceptional innovation capabilities to the benefit of farmers, consumers, our employees and the communities in which we operate,” Werner Baumann, Bayer’s chief executive, said in a news release.
Bayer’s proposal to take over Monsanto is not the only joint force that agriculture companies are currently seeing. Recently, Dow and DuPont started a possible merger, as well as the China National Chemical Corporation and Syngenta AG.