May 12 (Reuters) - Germany's Bayer AG is

exploring a bid for U.S. seed company Monsanto Co,

Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Monsanto lost out to ChemChina in its bid to buy seeds and

pesticides firm Syngenta last year.

State-owned ChemChina's deal for Syngenta and a merger

between DuPont and Dow Chemical 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 was considering a bid for

Monsanto. (http://bit.ly/1WrnzRL)