Bayer’s takeover offer to Monsanto had investors in an uproar on Friday. Reuters says the German company’s top shareholders were calling it “arrogant empire building.”
Investors were nursing an 8.2 percent drop in Bayer’s share price on Friday after the bid announcement came out the day before. John Benett of Henderson Global Investors called it an “immediate destruction” of shareholder value. Bayer’s shares did rebound slightly on Friday. Bayer had no comment on the investor backlash. Bennett said investor discontent seems to be mostly targeted at the sheer size of the proposed deal. One investment fund manager in Germany feared the size of the deal would stretch Bayer’s finances too much.