WASHINGTON, May 5, 2017 - Syngenta shareholders have accepted ChemChina’s $43 billion offer to buy the company, tendering more than enough shares to allow the transaction to go forward.
Syngenta announced early today that “based on preliminary numbers, around 80.7 percent of shares have been tendered,” well above the 67 percent threshold needed.
“It’s a historic day for Syngenta and truly a great day for our shareholders, for our employees, our customers and for ChemChina, so we’re very, very pleased to have this behind us,” Syngenta CEO Erik Fyrwald said in an interview with CNBC.
“All regulatory approvals and conditions required for the closing of the offer have been satisfied,” Syngenta spokesman Paul Minehart said, clearing the way for the transaction to be finalized.
The U.S. and the European Commission – the governing arm of the European Union – last month approved the transaction subject to certain conditions. The Federal Trade Commission is requiring ChemChina to sell all rights and assets of its subsidiary ADAMA’s U.S. paraquat, abamectin and chlorothalonil crop protection businesses.
The EC is requiring the sale of a significant part of ADAMA’s pesticide and plant growth regulator business in Europe, including “fungicides for cereals, fruits and oilseed rape, herbicides for cereals, corn, sunflower and vegetables, insecticides for cereals, corn, fruits, oilseed rape, and vegetables and its seed treatment products for cereals and sugar beet,” the EC said.
The transaction is slated to close within a month, according to a schedule from Syngenta.
The acquisition is the furthest along of three major unions of chemical companies. The other two – DuPont and Dow are merging and Bayer is planning to buy Monsanto – are expected to be finalized sometime this year.
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