US: ChemChina files for US antitrust approval on Syngenta deal

China National Chemical said it filed for US antitrust approval with the Federal Trade Commission for its proposed $43 billion takeover of Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta.

ChemChina has submitted documentation required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and expects the US antitrust process to be “on track,” the company said in an e-mail. The FTC, which oversees merger reviews along with the Justice Department, generally has 30 days to clear the proposed tie-up or issue a second request, seeking more information and a longer review period. When it’s a cash tender offer, the FTC has 15 days to review.

The proposed transaction already has been cleared by a US national security panel and won antitrust approval in Australia, where there are overlapping products between Syngenta and ChemChina’s Israeli-based generic agrochemical maker Adama.

Syngenta Chairman Michel Demare said this week he expects only a “few” concessions will be needed to get regulatory approval for ChemChina’s acquisition.

“The overlap is extremely small,” Demare said in a Bloomberg interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “There’s a few market concessions that will have to be made but nothing that will fundamentally change the business model of Syngenta.”

Full Content: Bloomberg

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