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Swiss agricultural chemicals company Syngenta is seeking advisers for a blockbuster listing that could be Hong Kong’s largest in years.
The Chinese-owned company on Thursday asked banks to submit proposals to advise on a potential listing that could raise as much as $10bn, according to one person familiar with the plans. The figure would make it one of the territory’s 10 largest-ever initial public offerings.
Syngenta in 2024 scrapped a plan to float in Shanghai amid poor economic conditions in mainland China, tighter regulatory scrutiny of IPOs and a tough outlook for the agricultural sector.
ChemChina bought Syngenta in 2017 in a $44bn deal that was the largest-ever foreign takeover by a Chinese company at the time. It had wanted to list Syngenta earlier but was waylaid by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The listing, which would be for 20 per cent of the company, would allow Syngenta to continue investing in research and development, according to the person, who did not have permission to speak publicly.
The company produces seeds and agricultural chemicals including pesticides for farmers in China and around the world.
After its acquisition by ChemChina, Syngenta’s then chief executive Erik Fyrwald told the FT the Chinese group had bought the company in order to “help assure food quantity, safety and quality for the Chinese people”, as well as to improve the environmental impact of agriculture.
The purchase came as Chinese leaders were looking to reinforce the country’s food security in the face of growing tension with the US.
Syngenta said in a statement: “We do not comment on market rumours. We will continue to assess our capital markets strategies based on market conditions and other relevant factors that are in the best interests of our shareholders.”
It added: “We intend to return to the capital markets when we are ready.”
Syngenta’s cancellation of its Shanghai IPO plan came after repeated delays and a sharp decline in activity on the domestic stock market, as well as tighter scrutiny of new issuers from the CSRC. Western banks did not receive key roles on the proposed listing, despite lobbying aggressively for involvement.
But listings in Hong Kong last year recovered strongly, with the Hong Kong Exchange claiming the title of top IPO venue worldwide, boosted by mainland Chinese companies such as electric vehicle battery maker CATL coming to the territory to raise funds.
Additional reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing