(Yicai Global) March 23 -- Syngenta Group’s application for a CNY65 billion (USD9.5 billion) initial public offering of shares on the Nasdaq-like Star Market will be reviewed by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on March 29, according to the bourse.

Since the Swiss agrochemical giant owned by China National Chemical submitted filed for the IPO on July 2, 2021, it has gone through three rounds of review enquiries and updated its draft sale prospectus yesterday, the SSE announced on the same day.

Basel-based Syngenta plans to raise as much as CNY65 billion, according to the prospectus. The listing is set to be the largest stock flotation on the Chinese mainland since Agricultural Bank of China listed in 2010 for CNY68.7 billion.

Affected by the rise of global food prices, Syngenta's revenue jumped 24 percent to CNY224.8 billion (USD32.9 billion) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier, the prospectus showed. Net profit soared 84 percent to CNY7.8 billion (USD1.1 Billion).

In US dollar terms, income climbed 19 percent to USD33.4 billion last year from 2021. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or EBITDA, rose 20 percent to a record high of USD5.6 billion.

ChemChina, as China National Chemical is better known, paid USD43 billion for Syngenta in 2017, making it the largest acquisition of a foreign business by a Chinese company. Its operations have since been merged with Israel's Adama and Sinochem's fertilizer and seed businesses.

Syngenta’s four main businesses -- crop protection, seeds, crop nutrition, and modern agricultural services -- support farmers with technologies, knowledge, and services. Revenue from the crop protection business jumped 24 percent to CNY14.7 billion last year from 2021.

Editor: Martin Kadiev