US extends probe into $43bn ChemChina-Syngenta deal
The US has asked for more information for its probe into China’s largest ever foreign acquisition.
But Syngenta, the Swiss chemical company being taken over by ChemChina in a $43bn (£34bn) deal, said the transaction should still complete in the first half of this year.
“We have received a second request but do not expect this to cause a delay,” Syngenta said, confirming the US Federal Trade Commission probe extension.
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“We expect to close the transaction in the second quarter.”
ChemChina and Syngenta announced the $43bn, $465 per share deal in February last year.
The deal was initially expected to complete by the end of 2016, but the deadline has been pushed back, initially to the first quarter of 2017 and then to the second, due to various antitrust investigations. The European Commission has a deadline of 12 April to approve the deal.
The takeover is one of three mega-deals in the agrochemicals industry currently agreed but not completed.
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US chemical companies DuPont and Dow Chemical agreed to a $130bn merger in December 2015. The DuPont-Dow Chemical deal is expected to complete in the first half of this year after also experiencing delays along the way.
Germany’s Bayer, meanwhile, wants to complete its $66bn takeover of US seeds firm Monsanto by the end of this year.