China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) has sought the approval of European Union (EU) for the $43 billion takeover of Syngenta AG.

Earlier this year, ChemChina has agreed to acquire Syngenta, transforming it to become the world’s largest supplier of pesticides and agrochemicals. This is by far the biggest foreign acquisition of a Chinese firm.

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The European Commission set the preliminary deadline to rule on the deal by Oct. 28, according to Reuters. 

This is the second deal of the three tie-ups between agrochemicals sector that sell seeds and chemicals to farmers from different parts of the world. This includes Bayer's $66 billion bid for Monsanto, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan's proposed merger with Agrium, and $130 billion merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont.

The approval will depend on the EU competition enforcers, who can either clear the deal, with or without concessions, or open a full investigation if they see anything wrong, such as harming the customers and rivals, with ChemChina's takeover. However, companies may avoid an extended probe by providing concessions in the first phase of the review, South China Morning Post reported.

Last month, EU regulators have also conducted an in-depth probe for the Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. merger and decided to suspend the deadline earlier this month to search for missing data. In addition, environmental campaigners and EU lawmakers have been asking EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to block Bayer AG’s bid for Monsanto Co.

TagsChemChina, China National Chemical Corp., European Union, Syngenta AG, $43 billion Syngenta Deal, Syngenta Deal ChemChina, agrochemicals sector