Syngenta hopes to raise US$10b on STAR market

Syngenta Group will use the proceeds from its expected US$10 billion initial public offering to fund internal growth and an acquisition spree to snare more of the US$100 billion market for seeds and sprays, the agrichemical giant said on Friday.

The company's prospectus to list on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market was posted online by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday, confirming details reported this week by Reuters after the application was filed on Wednesday.

"Syngenta Group will expand and renovate its production facility and implement strategic acquisition to meet growing market needs," the company said in the document.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange filing showed Syngenta's application to list on the STAR Market had been accepted and the company plans to issue up to 2.79 billion shares.

Syngenta's IPO still requires the approval of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and registration with the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The flotation, set to be the world's biggest this year, will value the maker of pesticides and seeds based in Basel, Switzerland, at about US$60 billion including debt, or US$50 billion without, sources have told Reuters.

The float is expected to be bigger than video-sharing platform Kuaishou Technology's US$6.2 billion Hong Kong IPO. It will likely be the two-year-old STAR board's biggest.

The filing means the flotation is likely to take place by the end of 2021, said the sources, who preferred anonymity.

A secondary listing for Syngenta is also being considered that could take place less than a year after its debut, with exchanges in Zurich, London and New York among the options being examined, the people said.