2 minutes, by Read HONG KONG/ZURICH (Source: Reuters) According to people with firsthand knowledge of the situation, ChemChina is trying to raise roughly $10 billion via a Shanghai IPO for Swiss agrichemical giant Syngenta Group, which is expected to be the world’s largest flotation this year. PHOTO FROM THE FILE: On July 16, 2018, a Syngenta logo is seen at the company’s China headquarters in Beijing, China. Jason Lee/Jason Lee/Jason Lee/Jason Lee/Jason Lee/Jason Lee/Jason The prospectus for the IPO on the city’s STAR Market is expected to be filed later on Wednesday, opening the way for its floatation by the end of 2021, according to sources. The IPO would be larger than the $6.2 billion Hong Kong IPO of video-sharing platform Kuaishou Technology, as well as the largest ever on Shanghai’s two-year-old STAR board. Syngenta is likely to be valued at roughly $60 billion, including debt, or $50 billion without, according to individuals who did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Saswato Das, a spokeswoman for Syngenta, declined to comment. ChemChina merged Syngenta with Israel’s ADAMA and Sinochem’s fertiliser and seed business last year, after purchasing the Swiss firm for $43 billion in 2017 in the country’s largest ever export acquisition. In March, China’s state assets regulator approved a long-planned merger between ChemChina and Sinochem. According to the sources, about a third of the earnings from the IPO will be used to service debt, with the balance going to R&D and new enterprises. In 2020, the company, which competes with BASF and Bayer of Germany, had sales of $23.1 billion. Sales jumped 20% in the first quarter of 2021, thanks to rising commodity prices that make its seeds and sprays more affordable to farmers. Farmers have also replenished their seed and pesticide inventories, which were depleted during the epidemic last year. John Revill in Zurich and Julie Zhu in Hong Kong contributed reporting, and Edwina Gibbs edited the piece. Continue reading
