Germany’s Bayer offers $62bn to buy US seed multinational Monsanto

The German drug and chemicals company Bayer announced on Monday that it has made a US$62 billion offer to buy the US multinational crops and seeds specialist Monsanto.

The proposed combination would create a giant seed and farm chemical company with a strong presence in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Bayer said the all-cash offer values shares of Monsanto at $122 each. That compares with their closing price Friday of $101.52 and is 37 per cent higher than their closing price of $89.03 on May 9, the day before Bayer made a written proposal to Monsanto.

Bayer had said on Thursday that its executives met recently with their Monsanto counterparts “to privately discuss a negotiated acquisition” of the specialist in genetically modified crop seeds, which is headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. Monsanto said then that it was reviewing Bayer’s proposal.

Bayer said it plans to finance the acquisition with a combination of debt and equity. It said that “is prepared to proceed immediately to due diligence and negotiations and to quickly agree to a transaction”.

The acquisition “would be a compelling opportunity to create a global agriculture leader, while reinforcing Bayer as a life science company with a deepened position in a long-term growth industry,” the German company said.

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Four tips to secure IoT networks

Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:

- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version

- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number

- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently

- Always create a different guest network for visitors

Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash

Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.

Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.

Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.

Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.

Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.