Monsanto gains ally in effort to buy Syngenta

Monsanto appears to have found an ally in billionaire investor John Paulson in its ongoing attempt to take over Syngenta, Bloomberg News reported.

The news service, citing people with knowledge of the situation, said Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., has taken an ownership stake in Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta. Paulson is known for taking large positions in companies involved in merger-and-acquisition discussions and then talking up the deal.

Sygenta rejected Monsanto’s $45 billion bid as insufficient in May, but Monsanto has been courting investors to support the deal.

Syngenta employs 750 workers in Greensboro and 450 in Research Triangle Park. Its RTP campus includes the global headquarters for biotechnology research for both its seeds and crop protection businesses.

The deal would make Monsanto No. 1 in both seeds and crop chemicals. Monsanto has said it plans to sell off some of Syngenta’s assets, including its seeds business, in order to pass muster with regulators who might have antitrust concerns.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Monsanto gains ally in effort to buy Syngenta."