Breaking News
Investing Pro 0
👀 Bezos, Buffett & Berkowitz: What's in Their Portfolios? Unlock Data

Syngenta's $9.5 billion IPO moves closer with Shanghai bourse hearing

Published Mar 22, 2023 03:15AM ET Updated Mar 22, 2023 09:05AM ET
Saved. See Saved Items.
This article has already been saved in your Saved Items
 
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A logo is seen at the headquarters of agricultural chemical maker Syngenta in Basel, Switzerland January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
 
USD/CNY
+0.01%
Add to/Remove from Watchlist
Add to Watchlist
Add Position

Position added successfully to:

Please name your holdings portfolio
 
BAYRY
+1.96%
Add to/Remove from Watchlist
Add to Watchlist
Add Position

Position added successfully to:

Please name your holdings portfolio
 
CTVA
+0.58%
Add to/Remove from Watchlist
Add to Watchlist
Add Position

Position added successfully to:

Please name your holdings portfolio
 

By John Revill and Julie Zhu

ZURICH/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Syngenta's $9.5 billion flotation has moved a step closer after the Shanghai Stock Exchange scheduled a hearing next week for the Swiss agrichemicals and seeds company's listing plan.

A rival to U.S. company Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) and German firms BASF and Bayer (OTC:BAYRY), Syngenta was bought for $43 billion by ChemChina in 2017 and folded into Sinochem Holdings Corp in 2021.

The Chinese parent plans to keep a majority stake after the initial public offering (IPO), which is set to be one of the world's biggest this year and expected to value Syngenta at around $50 billion.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it planned to conduct a hearing with the company to examine its listing application on March 29. Syngenta has also updated its prospectus with its latest financial figures.

It shows the company aims to raise about 65 billion yuan from the flotation or about $9.44 billion. 

Just over 60% of the proceeds will be used to finance acquisitions and to repay debt.

Around 20% will be allocated towards advanced agricultural technology-related research and development, according to the prospectus.

After Syngenta passes the hearing, the IPO will still require registration with the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The company aims to launch the offering in June, two sources said, with one adding that it is seeking mainly Chinese investors as strategic shareholders. 

Syngenta declined to comment, citing Chinese market regulations.

The float will likely be the four-year-old STAR board's biggest - providing a major boost after the scrapping of Ant Group's blockbuster listing in 2020.

The Nasdaq-style STAR Market topped the global charts for IPO fundraising in 2022 having raised $28.5 billion, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Syngenta first filed its listing application in July 2021 and has since gone through three rounds of reviews with the Shanghai bourse.

The company reported its highest ever annual sales and earnings on Wednesday. Its 2022 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 20% to $5.6 billion on sales up 19% at $33.4 billion.

Much of the growth came from China, where the company added 136 more Modern Agricultural Platform centres that offer training to farmers and sell its seeds and pesticides, taking its total there to 628.

"All business units saw double-digit growth, benefitting from high demand for products and services designed to promote yield increases and sustainable farming methods," Syngenta said.

But during the fourth quarter, its earnings fell after being hit by higher raw materials costs. It also spent more on reorganising its business and set cash aside to cover macro-economic uncertainties.

Its EBITDA fell 25% to $900 million on sales up 4% to $7.5 billion driven by its seeds business.

"As previously indicated, farmers accelerated their purchases earlier in the year due to supply concerns, moderating fourth quarter growth," the company said.

($1 = 6.8830 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Syngenta's $9.5 billion IPO moves closer with Shanghai bourse hearing
 

Related Articles

Add a Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:  

  •            Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.

  •           Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed. 

  •           Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.

  • Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases. Comments that are written in all caps and contain excessive use of symbols will be removed.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and comments containing links will be removed. Phone numbers, email addresses, links to personal or business websites, Skype/Telegram/WhatsApp etc. addresses (including links to groups) will also be removed; self-promotional material or business-related solicitations or PR (ie, contact me for signals/advice etc.), and/or any other comment that contains personal contact specifcs or advertising will be removed as well. In addition, any of the above-mentioned violations may result in suspension of your account.
  • Doxxing. We do not allow any sharing of private or personal contact or other information about any individual or organization. This will result in immediate suspension of the commentor and his or her account.
  • Don’t monopolize the conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also strongly believe in giving everyone a chance to air their point of view. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.
  • Any comment you publish, together with your investing.com profile, will be public on investing.com and may be indexed and available through third party search engines, such as Google.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Write your thoughts here
 
Are you sure you want to delete this chart?
 
Post
Post also to:
 
Replace the attached chart with a new chart ?
1000
Your ability to comment is currently suspended due to negative user reports. Your status will be reviewed by our moderators.
Please wait a minute before you try to comment again.
Thanks for your comment. Please note that all comments are pending until approved by our moderators. It may therefore take some time before it appears on our website.
 
Are you sure you want to delete this chart?
 
Post
 
Replace the attached chart with a new chart ?
1000
Your ability to comment is currently suspended due to negative user reports. Your status will be reviewed by our moderators.
Please wait a minute before you try to comment again.
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block

Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?

By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.

%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List

Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.

Report this comment

I feel that this comment is:

Comment flagged

Thank You!

Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Continue with Google
or
Sign up with Email