Chinese Company In Talks To Buy Makhteshim Agan

Koor Industries is in negotiations to sell agrochemicals maker Makhteshim Agan Industries — which includes U.S. subsidiary Control Solutions, Inc. — to China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina).

In a statement released yesterday, Koor Industries said it reached an “initial understanding” with China National Chemical Corp. to take the company private at a deal that would value the world’s biggest maker of generic crop chemicals at $2.72 billion.

Mark Boyd, president of Control Solutions, Inc., told PCT, “As most people in our industry know, we live in a global economy. Today, most of the Active Ingredients that are used to control insects in the U.S. market are produced in China, India and Israel.”

Boyd added that as Makhteshim (MAI) looks to the future, “the pending cooperation with ChemChina will help to ensure a low cost position for MAI and better market access for ChemChina. Therefore, subject to the successful completion of the transaction, MAI's management will lead the combined company and will be responsible for extracting its full growth potential. We will take the time to build a unique business model for the combined entity, taking the best capabilities from each organization and continuing to expand and improve our global infrastructure over time.”

As a result of this announcement Makhteshim Agan’s stock surged the most on record, jumping 27 percent.

PCT will provide updates to this story as they become available.