ChemChina Takeover Of Syngenta Reportedly Nears EU Approval

(RTTNews) - China National Chemical Corp.'s or ChemChina's purchase of Syngenta (SYT) and the combination of Dow Chemical (DOW) and Dupont are heading towards European antitrust approval, an important hurdle for the first two of three politically charged mega mergers reshaping the global food industry, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The $43 billion purchase of the Swiss seed company is China's largest cross-border transaction and is the second of three agribusiness deals, together worth nearly $250 billion, that Margrethe Vestager, EU competition commissioner, will examine this year.

Dow DuPont's $140 billion merger is on track for approval in March after the companies offered to sell some research and development capability. The sale will address the regulator's concern that a combined agri-company might launch fewer new crop protection products, the report said.

The third agri-deal, Bayer's $66 billion purchase of Monsanto, was announced last September and will start its European approval process before the summer. The US Department of Justice and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, Cfius, are both considering the deal.

The commission opened an in-depth probe because the companies did not offer any remedies to address its concerns at an early stage. However, the commission has not followed that up by sending a statement of objections, which lays out its formal case against a tie-up.