Israel’s Koor Industries has announced the sale of its subsidiary MA Industries, the world’s biggest maker of crop protection chemicals, to China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina).
The deal, which values MA at $2.4 billion, will see Koor retain 40 per cent of the maker of fungicides, pesticides and herbicides. ChemChina will buy the 53 per cent of MA currently held by the public for $1.27 billion, and will pay Koor $168 million for an additional seven per cent.
Tel Aviv-based Koor said it anticipates signing the agreement with ChemChina during the next two weeks, with the deal expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2011. The transaction is subject to approval by MA’s shareholders and government authorities in China.
MA is the world’s number seven agrochemicals maker. Its main production facilities are in Israel and Brazil, with smaller plants in Spain, Colombia and Greece. It has more than 3,000 employees worldwide.
The company’s main competitors are Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta.
The deal is the latest in a number of acquisitions made by China, which is keen to acquire agricultural chemical production and distribution capabilities—assets that would be expensive and time-consuming to develop domestically. ChemChina and Sinochem, both state-run companies, have each recently made failed bids for the Australian farm chemicals group Nufarm.
ChemChina already owns the Australian plastics maker Qenos and the French animal nutrition company Adisseo. Established in 2004, ChemChina operates in 140 countries and has 160,000 employees.
Koor is controlled by Discount Investment Corp., a subsidiary of conglomerate IDB Holding Corp.
