ChemChina's Bid for Syngenta Needs Scrutiny, Senators Say
Source: by Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg.com
March 24, 2016 — 12:19 PM PDT Updated on March 24, 2016 — 2:10 PM PDT
A bipartisan group of farm-state senators called on the Treasury Department Thursday to review a state-owned Chinese company’s proposed acquisition of Syngenta AG over concerns that Chinese control could impact U.S. food security and farm interests.
The senators asked Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to include representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States when it reviews the acquisition by the China National Chemical Corp., or ChemChina. The letter to Lew was signed by Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, and three other members of the committee: Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Republicans Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa.
“While this committee has not reached any conclusions regarding the proposed purchase of Syngenta by ChemChina, we believe that any foreign acquisition of an important U.S. agricultural asset should be reviewed closely for potential risks to our food system,” they wrote.
“It is not unreasonable to suggest that shifts in company governance; operational strategy; or financial health -- particularly in light of the magnitude of this leveraged transaction -- could have consequences for food security, food safety, biosecurity, and the highly competitive U.S. farm sector as a whole,” the lawmakers wrote.
’Negative Outcomes’
The fear is that China could use its power to hurt U.S. farm interests, given that Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta is a major producer of pesticides and seeds.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-03-24/chemchina-s-bid-for-syngenta-needs-broad-scrutiny-senators-say
RELATED: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/chemchina-said-near-deal-to-buy-syngenta-for-record-43-billion
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/chemchina-what-you-need-to-know
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