(Reuters) - Germany's Bayer AG (DE:BAYGn) is exploring a bid for U.S. seed company Monsanto Co (N:MON), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Monsanto lost out to ChemChina in its bid to buy seeds and pesticides firm Syngenta (VX:SYNN) last year.
State-owned ChemChina's deal for Syngenta and a merger between DuPont (N:DD) and Dow Chemical (N:DOW) has dramatically changed the agricultural landscape in a matter of months.
Monsanto share's were up 17.7 percent at $106.30 in premarket trading on Thursday.
Bayer has discussed how to finance a deal including potential asset sales, Bloomberg reported.
No final decision has been made and Bayer could decide against a bid or pursue other transactions with Monsanto, including joint ventures or asset sales, Bloomberg quoted the people as saying.
Monsanto, which had a market value of about $40 billion as of Wednesday close, declined to comment.
Bayer also declined to comment. (http://bloom.bg/1XmMYuR)
Street Insider, citing sources, reported late on Wednesday that Germany's BASF SE (DE:BASFn) was considering a bid for Monsanto.