Not So Fast: ChemChina Syngenta Takeover Could Draw National Security Scrutiny
February 5, 2016 State-owned China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina), which plans to buy Swiss seeds and pesticide maker Syngenta, will promptly start preparations for what could be a lengthy U.S. national security review, as the House Agriculture Committee chairman said he would monitor the deal, Diane Bartz reports for Reuters.com.
Representative Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican who chairs the Agriculture Committee, is aware of the deal and “will be closely monitoring this as it develops,” a committee spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
The $43 billion deal, which was announced on Wednesday as a way for China to better feed its 1.4 billion people, would face scrutiny from a U.S. government panel that reviews foreign acquisitions to establish whether they will harm national security.
Last month, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, stunned markets by blocking the $3.3 billion sale of Dutch company Philips’ lighting unit to a consortium of Asian buyers.
Syngenta, which generates nearly a quarter of its revenue from North America, is the biggest seller of pesticides in North America and also a key player in seeds. Its U.S. headquarters are in North Carolina. It has other facilities in the state, as well a presence in California, Delaware, Iowa and Minnesota, among others.
Read the rest of Bartz’s story over on Reuters.com.
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