Sept 15 (Reuters) - Swiss seeds and agrichemicals company Syngenta Group has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering, aiming to raise at least $5 billion, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The Basel-based company, controlled by Chinese state-owned Sinochem, hopes to launch the offering as soon as the end of this year, or if not, early 2027, said two of the sources.
Depending on the market response, the offering size could be up to $10 billion, the sources
said. At that size, it would be Hong Kong's biggest IPO since 2010, according to LSEG data.
Hong Kong's IPO market is booming, with initial public offerings and secondary listings raising $45.8 billion so far this year, compared with $24 billion in the same period last year, LSEG data showed.
The exact timing, offering size and the company's valuation have not been finalised, said the sources, who declined to be named as the information was not public.
A listing of that size would test investor appetite for a company whose owner, Sinochem, paid $43 billion to take it private in 2017 and has yet to mark that investment to a public market valuation. Success would hand Hong Kong one of its marquee deals of the year and give Syngenta a way to start paying down some of its debts and also invest in new crop-protection products and seeds.
Syngenta expects the global agricultural market to improve next year, especially if there is a resolution in the Iran conflict that would ease shortages of natural gas used to make fertilisers, making the products cheaper for farmers, said a person familiar with the matter.
The company also wants to make the most of the booming Hong Kong stock market before it cools, the person added, while recently appointed CEO Hengde Qin, a Chinese national, is seen as a person who can navigate the various approval processes.
"We do not comment on market speculation," Syngenta said in a response to Reuters. Sinochem did not respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg News first reported on the filing on Tuesday, saying the company is considering raising about $5 billion.
The planned listing would revive an effort by Sinochem to take Syngenta public after the company withdrew a planned Shanghai listing in 2024.
SEEDS AND CROP-PROTECTION BUSINESS
Syngenta sells seeds and crop-protection products, including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and also provides biological and digital farming products. It has more than 50,000 employees in over 90 countries, according to its website.
Syngenta reported a decline in second-quarter sales and profit following its exit from a low-margin business in China.
Quarterly sales fell by 7% to $5.7 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped 2% to $1 billion. On a currency-adjusted basis, EBITDA was 4% higher.
Syngenta in July appointed Qin, previously chief operating officer, as its new CEO, effective August 1, to succeed Jeff Rowe, who returned to the United States after nearly 10 years with the company.
(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru, Yantoultra Ngui and Kane Wu in Hong Kong and John Revill in Zurich; Additional reporting by Dave Graham in Zurich; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Susan Fenton and Matthew Lewis)
