ST. LOUIS, MO - Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant is finally firing back at rival Syngenta AG after the company repeatedly has denied Monsanto’s takeover bid, valued roughly at $45 billion.

Grant says he hasn’t at all been discouraged by Syngenta’s denials, continuing, “Despite the pace and the speed and the lack of engagement, I always tell the team I’m the exception because I’m the Scottish optimist. I’m going to be putting energy into putting this over the line.”

Grant has been pursuing the bid since April, as we’ve previously covered, and Monsanto now is lobbying shareholders of both companies. A deal would be “transformative,” Grant told The Wall Street Journal. “We’d reinvent ourselves one more time.”

Yesterday, Syngenta Chairman Michel Demare once again responded to the bid, saying it “significantly undervalues” Syngenta and underestimates the regulatory obstacles the combined super-company would likely face. “Monsanto has endorsed our strategy and has clearly demonstrated that it has great value. The only thing is they’re trying to buy it on the cheap,” Demare continued in his 12-minute addess. 

“A serious proposal to buy Syngenta has to be made at full and fair value,” Demare said. “It has to recognize for shareholders the inherent combination benefits and it has to provide a high degree of certainty the transactions will be closed.” 

Grant has coveted Syngenta since at least 2011, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sales in Monsanto’s seeds and genetic traits division—which accounts for more than two thirds of its revenue—grew by just 4% last year, compared with a 21% increase in 2004. Its herbicide division grew 13% last year. Monsanto hopes that acquiring Syngenta’s seed business would reignite that sector of their business. 

“We’ll figure out another way of doing that,” Grant said. “This isn’t one where you fold up the tent and go back to how things were.”

Grant ended by saying that Monsanto’s pursuit of Syngenta could play out over several months.

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