Bayer is reportedly looking to buy Monsanto - and Monsanto's stock is surging

Portia Crowe

Thomson Reuters

Monsanto is the maker of Roundup.

The chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG is considering making a bid for the agrochemical Monsanto, Bloomberg's Aaron Kirchfeld, Ruth David and Dinesh Nair report.

The combined company would become the largest supplier of farm chemicals and seeds, according to the report.

Monsanto's stock was up about 17% in premarket trading, after surging as much as 20%.

Monsanto, which has a market cap of about $40 billion, is the maker of the pesiticide Roundup.

The news follows a couple of other major deals in the agrochemicals space.

The Chinese chemical giant ChemChina in February agreed to buy the Swiss seed-maker Syngenta for $43 billion. In December, Dow Chemical and DuPont announed a $130 billion deal to combine forces.