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HONG KONG, China — On Friday, Syngenta Group, a Swiss agrichemical business owned by ChemChina, filed an initial public offering (IPO) application on the Shanghai STAR Market to raise $10 billion. According to the prospectus, the corporation wants to sell up to 2.79 billion shares in the IPO, or a 20% interest. The IPO will be the largest in the world in 2021, as well as the largest ever on the two-year-old STAR Market, a Nasdaq-style tech-heavy exchange. According to one source, the IPO would value Syngenta at more than $50 billion. “To satisfy expanding market needs, Syngenta Group will expand and renovate its production facility and conduct strategic acquisitions,” the business stated in the prospectus. In 2017, China’s state-owned ChemChina purchased Syngenta for $43 billion, making it the country’s largest overseas business takeover. Last year, ChemChina merged the Swiss firm with Israel’s ADAMA as well as Sinochem’s fertilizer and seed division. In March, Chinese officials approved the merger of ChemChina and Sinochem, resulting in the world’s largest such company by a long shot, with combined sales topping 1 trillion yuan ($154 billion). China-based or owned businesses are scrambling to take advantage of plentiful liquidity in global markets and the investor appetite for growth assets. According to statistics from Dealogic, Chinese companies have raised more than $50 billion this year across mainland, Hong Kong, and US exchanges, over half of the total volume of 2020. In the STAR Market, more than 80 firms have raised more than $10 billion, while another 27 have raised more than $15 billion in Hong Kong. According to persons familiar with the matter, China Tourism Group filed for a Hong Kong IPO in June, which could raise between $7 billion and $10 billion. Syngenta Group said on June 21 that it had begun the “tutoring” process with banks in preparation for an initial public offering. Investment banks involved in the process advise corporate executives on IPO-related concerns, which is a procedure unique to China. Syngenta may list earlier its original aim of 2022, which it stated when it was purchased by ChemChina, according to the first phase in the IPO process in China. According to Syngenta’s website, the company employs around 49,000 people in over 100 countries. Syngenta Seeds, Syngenta Crop Protection, ADAMA, and Syngenta Group China are now the company’s four business units. According to the company’s most recent financial announcement, sales for the three months ended March 31 totaled $7.1 billion, up 20% from the same period previous year./nRead More

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