China Cleared in Takeover Bid for Syngenta -
By AMIE TSANGAPRIL 5, 2017
LONDON — China moved closer to sealing its biggest foreign deal to date
and bolstering its efforts to feed its population on Wednesday after the European Union approved China National Chemical Corporation’s $43 billion takeover of Syngenta, the Swiss farm chemicals and seeds company.
“It is important for European farmers and ultimately consumers
that there will be effective competition in pesticide markets, also after ChemChina’s acquisition of Syngenta,” Margrethe Vestager, the European Union commissioner in charge of competition policy, said in a statement.
In recent years, the country has been on an acquisition spree, buying up major strategic assets like copper mines
and oil deposits as well as investing in flashier, if less economically or geopolitically important, deals for marquee names like the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan.
The approval came with the condition that the state-owned company, also known as ChemChina,
must sell its European pesticide and plant growth regulator businesses.
The ChemChina deal could bolster China’s efforts to become a major player in the field of genetically modified food,
and it has poured money into developing its homegrown industry.
