Bayer secures €60bn loan facility to fund Monsanto bid
In a bid to fund its $62bn takeover of US seeds company Monsanto, German drugs giant Bayer has secured a loan facility of a whopping €60bn.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that Bayer secured a bridge loan from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, HSBC , Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Talks for the takeover started in May after Bayer expressed ambitions to become the world's biggest agricultural supplier and integrate pesticides and seeds markets.
Bayer made a $62bn (£42bn) offer which Monsanto rejected for being "financially inadequate".
Read more: Bayer's Monsanto bid: Are European firms about to take over the world?
Both companies have expressed willingness to seal the deal.
Bayer chief executive Werner Baumann told German magazine WirtschaftsWoche last month: “Our planned takeover of Monsanto will be a marathon rather than a sprint.”
"As a matter of principle, we do not comment on any market rumors," Bayer spokesman Michael Preuss said.