, Columnists
Bayer's Deal Magic Is Cheap Debt
But overpaying is overpaying, however you fund it.
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In the contest between cheap debt and financial discipline, cheap debt wins again.
Bayer's pursuit of U.S. seeds giant Monsanto was looking expensive even before it clinched the deal this week with a sweetened $57 billion bid ($66 billion including debt). The German life-sciences group is justifying the higher price partly on the basis that it will be accretive from the get-go.