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Cao Li

Aileen Chuang

Leading agricultural technology firm Syngenta Group is considering a Hong Kong listing that could raise as much as US$10 billion, in what would rank among the city’s largest initial public offerings (IPOs) in recent years.
The Swiss-founded company, acquired by Chinese state-owned Sinochem in 2017, is in talks with investment banks to arrange the share sale, sources told the South China Morning Post.
CICC and UBS are among the banks that are advising on the listing. Both banks declined to comment on the deal.
The fundraising could reach up to US$10 billion, depending on market conditions and investor demand, the sources said.
At that size, the deal would be Hong Kong’s biggest new listing since Alibaba’s US$12.9 billion secondary share sale in November 2019, according to London Stock Exchange Group data. Alibaba owns the SCMP.
Excluding secondary offerings, it would be the largest IPO since AIA Group’s US$20.5 billion debut in October 2010.
Syngenta was formed in Switzerland in 2000 through the merger of the agrichemical businesses of Novartis and AstraZeneca. It was previously listed in New York and Switzerland before being taken private in 2017, when Sinochem acquired the group for US$43 billion in what remains the largest overseas takeover by a Chinese company.
The company has made several attempts to return to public markets.
It first sought a listing on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star Market in 2021 and later on the main board in 2023, targeting a fundraising of about 65 billion yuan (US$9.4 billion), according to its prospectus. Both applications were later withdrawn.

“After careful consideration of the industry environment and the company’s development strategy, Syngenta Group has decided to withdraw its application for an IPO on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange,” the company said at the time, adding it would revisit a listing in China or another global market when conditions were favourable.
Planning for a Hong Kong flotation began late last year. In an interview with the SCMP, CEO Jeff Rowe said delivering a successful IPO was among his key priorities.
The potential listing comes at a time of lively activity for Hong Kong’s capital markets.
Nearly 100 companies filed new listing applications in January, according to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. As of the end of the month, 440 companies were in the listing pipeline, with 26 applications approved and the remainder under review.
The Hang Seng Index briefly climbed above 28,000 last week, a level last seen in 2021.
Market sentiment, however, has turned more cautious in recent days. Shares of China’s largest pork producer, Muyuan, opened flat on their Hong Kong debut on Friday, while the broader market slid amid a global sell-off spanning equities, gold and cryptocurrencies.
Syngenta said in a statement on Friday that it did not comment on market speculation.
“We will continue to assess our capital markets strategies based on market conditions and other relevant factors that are in the best interests of our shareholders,” the company said. “As we have consistently said, we intend to return to the capital market when the time is right.”
For the quarter ended September, Syngenta reported sales of US$6.4 billion, down 6 per cent year on year. Core operating profitability improved, however, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rising 28 per cent to US$900 million.


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Syngenta Group’s global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Photo: Handout

Jeff Rowe, CEO of Syngenta, said delivering a successful IPO was among his key priorities. Photo: Handout

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Jeff Rowe, the CEO of Syngenta, at his family farm in the US state of Illinois on September 30, 2025. Photo: Anthony Collins/Handout

Harvest time on the Schubert plot of Rowe Farm, near the township of Peru in Illinois state in the US Midwest on September 30, 2025. Photo: Anthony Collins/Syngenta

Jeff Rowe, the CEO of Syngenta, during the start of the 2025 harvest on his family farm in the US state of Illinois on September 30, 2025. Photo: Handout

Jeff Rowe in the cockpit of his combine harvester in a corn field of the Schubert plot of his family’s Rowe Farm, near the township of Peru in Illinois state in the US Midwest on September 30, 2025. Photo: Anthony Collins/Syngenta

A digital agricultural system on display at Syngenta’s Modern Agriculture Platform centre in China on June 21, 2021. Photo: Orange Wang

Syngenta Group’s booth at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing on November 30, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

An undated photograph of Syngenta Group’s global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Photo: Handout

Li Fanrong, then the CEO of China’s largest offshore oil explorer Cnooc Limited, spoke during a press conference in Hong Kong on January 19, 2016. Li has since been assigned to Sinochem Holdings, where he serves as the chairman. He is also the chairman of Syngenta Group. Photo: Nora Tam

Sinochem’s logo outside the company’s corporate headquarters in Beijing on February 21, 2017. Photo: Reuters

Syngenta’s Modern Agricultural Program centre in the Sichuan provincial city of Chongzhou. Photo: Handout

Jeff Rowe drove the combine harvester (background) on his corn field, while his son Austin and nephew Elliott drove the collector (foreground) on the first day of harvest on Rowe Farm, near the township of Peru in Illinois state in the US Midwest on September 30, 2025. Photo: Anthony Collins/Syngenta

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Petra Laux, chief sustainability officer at Syngenta Group. Photo: Handout

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Syngenta headquarters in Basel. Syngenta was bought out by ChemChina for US$43 billion in 2017, in the biggest overseas takeover by a Chinese company. Photo: AFP

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