China made a bold move to increase food production and potentially cut food imports with a bid to buy Swiss agri-chemical group Syngenta AG (ADR) SYT Wednesday.
The $43 billion offer from China National Chemical Corporation, also known as ChemChina, prices the company's shares at $465.
ChemChina announced plans to IPO the company, but did not offer a timeline beyond " the years to come." Syngenta management will remain in place and will retain four seats on a new board of directors.
The buy fits into China's plans to increase farm efficiency and output as it faces environmental problems wrought by decades of explosive economic growth, Reuters reported this morning.
That growth slowed last month, causing instability to ripple through the market. With this move, China seems to be responding to the effects of the slowdown with foreign investment.
Syngenta shares were up nearly 3 percent with the news at market open.
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