SYT Syngenta Ag (delisted)

By Natalia Drozdiak

BRUSSELS--China National Chemical Corp. and Syngenta AG (SYT) have submitted formal remedies to the European Union in a bid to win regulatory approval of the Chinese state-owned company's $43 billion planned takeover of the Swiss pesticide-and-seed maker.

The parties submitted their commitments on Jan. 9, according to a statement on the EU competition regulator's website. The regulator has until April 12 to decide on the merger.

The EU opened an in-depth review into the merger in October. At the time, it stressed that Syngenta and Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd., an Israeli maker of generic pesticides that is controlled by ChemChina, had "strong overlapping portfolios" of crop-protection products such as herbicides and insecticides.

The EU is weighing the ChemChina-Syngenta deal alongside two other major tie-ups in the global crop-seed industry: DuPont Co.'s planned merger with Dow Chemical Co. and Bayer AG's $57 billion takeover of Monsanto Co.

In particular, the EU has been closely scrutinizing how the reduced number of industry players could impact innovation and research and development for new products.

Dow and Dupont held a private hearing on Monday with the EU whose primary concern over the deal is innovation-related.

In October, Syngenta said regulatory approval of the deal was facing delays as regulators seek more information amid a consolidation wave in the sector.

The ChemChina-Syngenta deal won a key nod in the U.S. in late August, when it was cleared by a U.S. security regulator.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drosdiak@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 10, 2017 03:11 ET (08:11 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.