Syngenta, a global Swiss agribusiness company, was offered a huge $43 billion by the state-owned China National Chemical Corp. last Wednesday. This Syngenta China deal will be the largest-ever acquisition made by a Chinese company overseas.
ChemChina, the largest chemical company in China negotiated this deal as one of its latest series of investments abroad and as a part of the country's effort to persuade its businesses to 'go out' and expand.
The board at Syngenta recommended to its shareholders the sale of $465 per share, together with a special dividend.
"...the proposed transaction respects the interests of all stakeholders," the board said in a company statement. "It will enable further expansion of Syngenta's presence in emerging markets and notably in China," the statement added.
Before the Syngenta China deal was finalized, the Swiss company is reported to have rejected a higher bid of $47 billion from its competitor Monsanto, in August 2015. In November, Bloomberg News reported that the U.S.-based company is thinking of offering a higher bid.
This deal highlights China's intention of securing its food supply for its 1.4 billion citizens. In almost every deal this country makes, it has shown its willingness to raise larger sums of money to obtain overseas agricultural partners together with their expertise.
"The background here is that China is very sensitive to dependency on foreign food," Derek M. Scissors said. He is an economic policy fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington studying the overseas investments China is engaging in.
This latest Syngenta China deal falls in line with the other large deals that this country has consummated lately. It has purchased a 12 percent stake in Mercuria, another Swiss company that deals with energy and commodities.
In addition, China also inked mergers and acquisitions with Pirelli, an Italian tire maker, famous for its Formula One equipment which it acquired at €7.4 billion.
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