The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina. The approval is conditional on the divestiture of significant parts of ChemChina's European pesticide and plant growth regulator business. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "It is important for European farmers and ultimately consumers that there will be effective competition in pesticide markets, also after ChemChina's acquisition of Syngenta.

ChemChina has offered significant remedies, which fully address our competition concerns. This has allowed us to approve the transaction. Today's decision follows an in-depth review of the transaction. Syngenta is the leading pesticide supplier worldwide. ChemChina is currently active in pesticide markets in Europe through Adama, its wholly-owned Israel-based subsidiary. Unlike Syngenta, which produces pesticides based on active ingredients it has developed itself, Adama only produces generic pesticides based on active ingredients developed by third parties for which the patent has expired. It is the world's biggest producer of such generic pesticides.

The Commission's investigation showed that the parties would have held high combined market shares for a number of pesticides and for certain plant growth regulators, with few other competitors remaining. ChemChina offered a set of commitments, which address the Commission's competition concerns in full. In particular, they will divest: a significant part of Adama's existing pesticide business; some of Syngenta's pesticides; 9 of Adama's generic pesticides under development and access to third parties to studies and field trial results for these products; a significant part of Adama's plant growth regulator business for cereals; and all relevant intangible assets underpinning the divested pesticide and plant growth regulator products. The Commission has been in close contact with a number of other competition authorities, which are also reviewing the transaction. In particular, the Commission has had regular exchanges with the competition authorities of Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico and the US Fair Trade Commission.