Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 6832 FORPaul Minehart, April 30, 2015, was the day consolidation in the agriculture industry really began. “I got a call from Bloomberg News saying, ‘Monsanto has made an offer to buy Syngenta. Would you like to com- ment?’” says Minehart, head of corporate communications, North America for Syngenta. Of course, consolidation began long before last year, but for Minehart and others at Syngenta — itself a result of the merger between Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals 16 years ago — the past 18 months have been a whirlwind. First it was the news of Monsanto’s attempt to acquire the company, which made headlines in 2015. But when it was announced nine months ago that Syngenta’s board had accepted ChemChina’s offer of $43 billion, the media and ag industry wasted no time in making it a topic of conversation. Currently getting over regulatory hurdles, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, after it was initially expected to pass by the end of 2016. Unlike other mergers taking place right now — namely the Dow-DuPont and Bayer-Monsanto mergers — ChemChina’s acquisition of Syngenta is different, notes Jay Bradshaw, president of Syngenta Canada. “We could merge with another organization, but our strategic decision is to change shareholders. Rather than merge with another company, we’re changing the ownership environ- ment. There will only be one shareholder, and that will be ChemChina,” Bradshaw says. “We won’t be at the scrutiny of shareholders — it will be run like a private company.” ChemChina is a chemical giant. Its full name being China National Chemical Corporation, it is a state-owned enterprise established by reorganizing the subsidiary companies under China’s former Ministry of the Chemical Industry. It is ranked 234th on the Fortune Global 500 and has more than 140,000 employees with 52,000 outside China. It operates production and research and development bases in 150 countries and boasts a full-fledged marketing network. “I had a bit of an emotional reaction. We were in this long negotiation with Monsanto and it was finally over, and then it was very shortly after that the ChemChina option came in,” Bradshaw says about the moment he heard the news. “But I did some research on ChemChina, and think this is a perfect fit. They believe in our company and share our goal to help alleviate food security around the world.” The Emotion of an Acquisition Vern Hawkins, president of Syngenta Crop Protection, agrees that the acquisition will be a huge benefit to Syngenta. Hawkins began his career at Zeneca Agrochemicals 30 years ago, long before it merged with Novartis Agribusiness to become Syngenta. “Syngenta will remain Syngenta,” he says. ChemChina does own crop protection product manufacturer Adama, but the parent company does not have an ag management team, so Syngenta’s team has the experience to run the Syngenta business, he says. Hawkins notes the acquisition by ChemChina recently under- went a foreign investment security review approved a couple months back. This is a CFIUS review that ChemChina and Syngenta, which is Swiss owned, volunteered to undergo due to its large financial presence in the U.S. “That’s a process not many global people know about,” Hawkins says, noting it’s a confidential review process comprising a number of federal agencies. Ponsi Trisvavet, president of Syngenta Seeds, says that as the process to develop and register new products gets longer and more expensive (the cost has nearly tripled during the past 17 years), consolidation will only continue. “As an indus- try you step back and think, ‘How long can we afford to invest in these innovations? Is there a way we can create something that would help optimize the spending?’ That’s the biggest driver in terms of investment in innovation,” she says. “That drives consolidation. Once you start with one, the rest will come. That’s the nature of consolidation, and we will see more and more of it.” Marc Zienkiewicz Syngenta’s acquisition by ChemChina has been an emotional process marked by regulatory hurdles, but company insiders say Syngenta will be better and stronger. Jay Bradshaw is president of Syngenta Canada.