Chinese Regulators Approve ChemChina Deal for Syngenta

(Beijing) — China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) announced Wednesday that the Commerce Ministry has approved the company’s acquisition of Syngenta AG.

The move follows ChemChina’s recent formal request to launch an antitrust review of the proposed acquisition.

The Commerce Ministry’s approval comes a week after the U.S. antitrust agency, the Federal Trade Commission, and the European Commission conditionally approved ChemChina’s proposed $43 billion purchase of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta, removing more major obstacles from the path of a deal that would be China’s biggest-ever overseas acquisition. Under the conditions, ChemChina has agreed to sell to California-based Amvac Chemical Corp. all of its U.S. assets engaged in the manufacture and sale of the three pesticide product lines.

ChemChina has said previously that the deal will likely be completed by the end of the second quarter this year.

The bid for Syngenta, the world’s third-largest seed supplier and top pesticides maker, will dwarf all of ChemChina’s previous takeovers if it is approved. ChemChina’s post-merger assets will nearly double to more than 700 billion yuan ($101 billion).

Since ChemChina unveiled the takeover bid in February 2016, the Commerce Ministry has expressed its support for the deal. Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said the acquisition will be advantageous to both companies and play a positive role in securing global food supplies.

Contact reporter Dong Tongjian (tongjiandong@caixin.com)