China National Chemical buys Syngenta for $43B

China's government-backed pesticides and agrochemical firm China National Chemical said Wednesday it would buy its Swiss rival Syngenta for more than $43 billion in cash.

The deal marks the biggest foreign acquisition by a Chinese firm and may help transform China National Chemical, known as ChemChina, into the world's largest supplier of crop-protection products.

China National Chemical offered $465 for each Syngenta share, a 20% premium to its closing price on Tuesday. The deal, endorsed by Syngenta's board, includes an additional special dividend of 5 Swiss francs (about $5) a share if it goes through.

ChemChina is headquartered in Beijing and is not a publicly traded company. Syngenta is based in Basel. Its Swiss-listed shares were up around 7% to 419 Swiss francs in mid-morning activity in Europe.

The deal is expected to close by the end of year. It comes as interest in foreign acquisitions by Chinese companies appears to be expanding amid slowing growth. China's GDP hit a 25-year low in 2015.

The deal represents the latest consolidation of the chemical and agribusiness sector following the $68.6 billion merger deal Dow Chemical and DuPont announced in December.

St. Louis-based Monsanto wooed Syngenta with a roughly $46 billion merger deal last year, but dropped the bid when the Swiss company rejected the sweetened offer.

ChemChina's success in landing the deal marks the latest cross-border corporate foray by the company and its chairman, Ren Jianxin. ChemChina last year acquired Italian tire maker Pirelli in a $7.9 billion transaction. Ren Jianxin, was named chairman of Pirelli as part of the deal.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, this year's tally of overseas transactions by Chinese firms is forecast to beat 2015’s record $123.9 billion.

Among the notable acquisitions so far this year are Haier Group's $5.4 billion purchase of General Electric's appliance business and Dalian Wanda Group's $3.5 billion deal for Legendary Entertainment.