Henderson calls for investor vote on Bayer’s takeover of Monsanto
By Sinead Cruise LONDON (Reuters) – Henderson Global Investors, a minority investor in Bayer has demanded a vote on the firm's $64 billion-plus proposed takeover of Monsanto, which it said threatened the long-term strength of the German chemicals group. Asim Rahman, European equities fund manager at Henderson, one of Bayer&039;s 20 largest investors with a 0.7 percent stake, said the bid for the U.S. seeds company represented "a major departure from a strategy of focus and integration of existing acquisitions" that Bayer had consistently communicated to the market for a number of years. Bayer announced a sweetened $125-a-share offer for Monsanto, the largest all-cash takeover bid on record, on July 14 in an effort to entice its reluctant management to give the German company full access to its books.
