Syngenta submits IPO application to main board of Shanghai bourse

Syngenta Group, the Swiss seed and crop company and a subsidiary of Sinochem Holdings Corp Ltd, has withdrawn its STAR market IPO (initial public offerings) application and has submitted an application to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's main board, the company said in a statement on its website.

According to SSE's website, Syngenta Group's STAR market IPO status has been changed to "terminated".

Syngenta Group said that the rollout of the registration-based share issuance scheme across China in February will further improve the capital market and clearly define the roles of different boards. The main board of the SSE is meant to support large-scale companies with mature business models, a stable earnings performance and are good representatives of their respective industries.

The group believes that as a leading global agricultural technology company, Syngenta Group fits better with the main board of the SSE, which has adopted a registration-based IPO scheme. This main board listing will enable the company to access more diversified investors and will be conducive to the company's long-term value, according to its statement.

To respond a media query on Thursday, the SSE said that since China has officially rolled out its across-the-board registration-based IPO system in February this year, the multi-level capital market system has been further improved and the positioning of different boards has become clearer.

"We fully respect the company's autonomous choice of listing boards and support the listing of large-scale agricultural technology companies," said the SSE.

Syngenta Group started its STAR market IPO at the end of June 2021 and had gone through three rounds of regulatory inquiries. Then the main board, for blue chip companies, adopted a registration-based share issuance scheme in February this year and welcomed the first batch of 10 listings under the new regime on April 10.

The Basel, Switzerland-based group has built a market presence in more than 100 countries and regions to date. Supported by more than 57,000 employees, the company's sales revenue amounted to 224.8 billion yuan ($31.98 billion) in 2022, with a net profit of 11.4 billion yuan.