The European Union (EU) may likely grant conditional antitrust approval for ChemChina's $43 billion bid to acquire Syngenta, a Swiss pesticides and seeds group, two people privy to the matter said on Thursday, Feb. 3, Reuters reported.
The acquisition is considered to be the largest made by a foreign company, the report said.
The report, however, quoted the sources as saying that that the European Commission may announce its approval next month, ahead of its scheduled April 12 deadline.
According to the report, China needs to secure the deal, not only as the world's largest agricultural market, but also for the food security of its huge population. With Syngenta's portfolio that includes high-quality chemicals and patented seeds, China expects an increase in food production.
To ease the concerns of the European Commission over ChemChina's takeover of the world's largest pesticides maker, the state-owned company agreed to some minor concessions. Regulators fear that the deal may result in higher prices and give farmers lesser choices.
The report quoted one of the sources as saying that ChemChina will divest national product registrations, as well as some existing products and a few that are in the pipeline, in some EU countries.
According to the source, most of these products include those from ChemChina unit and Adama, an Israeli crop protection company, and the rest are from Syngenta. Facilities, plants or personnel will not be involved. Adama is Europe's largest supplier of generic crop protection products.
The report said that Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso refused to comment. ChemChina could not be reached for comment either while Syngenta said they have no information yet about the Commission's decision.
In August last year, U.S. regulators granted clearance to ChemChina's acquisition of Syngenta despite concerns from some lawmakers over U.S. food security, according to a Reuters report.
In Nov., a U.S. congressional panel urged lawmakers to ban Chinese state-owned firms from acquiring U.S. companies.