U.S. and European regulators have cleared a Chinese conglomerate’s proposed $43 billion acquisition of Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta on condition it sells some businesses to satisfy anti-monopoly objections.
The Federal Trade Commission’s announcement comes alongside the approval by European regulators of the purchase by state-owned ChemChina. It would be China’s biggest foreign acquisition to date.
ChemChina, also known as China National Chemical Corp., agreed to sell businesses that make an herbicide, an insecticide and a fungicide whose combined market shares with Syngenta would harm competition, the FTC and European Commission say.
“ChemChina has offered significant remedies, which fully address our competition concerns. This has allowed us to approve the transaction,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust commissioner, said….
Chinese companies are engaged in a multibillion-dollar global buying spree to acquire technology and brands to improve their competitive edge as explosive growth in their home economy slows.
At the same time, the global industry that supplies farm chemicals, biotechnology and other inputs is in the midst of a shake-up as tumbling commodity prices squeeze spending by farmers.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: US, EU clear Chinese takeover of Syngenta
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