ChemChina’s USD 44bn Syngenta acquisition will not be aided by Beijing, SASAC head says
28 SEP 2017
Beijing will not lend money to prop up ChemChina's USD 44bn acquisition of Syngenta, nor will it directly intervene in Syngenta's dispute with US farmers and grain traders, a FT report quoted Xiao Yaqing, the head of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac).
Xiao Yaqing made the comments after Syngenta failed to complete a USD 7bn bond sale due to the dispute and the bond was designed to refinance a USD 6.5bn bridge loan backing the acquisition.
The official was confident that the companies, although both heavily leveraged, have the refinancing ability, adding that "ChemChina's results last year were not bad", the report said.
S&P which rates Syngenta at BBB- in an August report said that the ratings could be even lower, should the SASAC not give any financial support “timely and full manner”, the report added.
At last, in response to rumors about potential merger of ChemChina and Sinochem, the top official of the SASAC said that he is not aware of it.