The executive arm of the European Union announced Friday that it has set a deadline to rule on China National Chemical Corporation’s takeover of Syngenta AG.
The record $43 billion all-cash deal announced in February still needs to gain regulatory approval in key global markets before it can be finalized.
Also known as ChemChina, the state-backed chemicals company’s pending deal with pesticides-maker Syngenta is widely reported as the largest foreign acquisition ever made by a Chinese firm.
The European Commission set a “provisional deadline” for Oct. 28, an online notification shows.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the ChemChina-Syngenta deal in August. That means EU approval is among the most important steps left for the proposed deal to become a reality.
U.S. regulators made their decision despite farmer concerns about decreased competition in the agrochemicals sector and the influence of a corporation owned by an often unfriendly Chinese government.
Syngenta executives expect the ChemChina deal to be completed by the end of the year.
According to Bloomberg, the European Commission denied giving the agribusiness deal a special fast-track status that would have expedited approval.