FMC Set to Acquire Cheminova for $1.8 Billion

Danish holding company Auriga Industries is selling its crop protection unit Cheminova to US diversified chemical producer FMC for $1.8 billion.

The holding had announced in July that it was considering a sale of the unit, its only business. Following the transaction, expected to close in early 2015, Auriga is to be dissolved.

According to the news agency Reuters, quoting banking sources, debt financing of up to $962 million had been obtained for the sale.

Auriga's shareholders are scheduled to approve the transaction at an extraordinary general meeting in October, and anti-trust authorities also must give their blessing for the deal.

Cheminova develops and supplies crop protection products to increase the yield and quality of crops for farmers. The company, operating out of more than 20 countries, claims to have around 2-3% percent of the global market.

Private equity investors EQT and CVC had made a joint bid to buy Cheminova in a deal that Reuters sources' said could have been worth about $1.3 billion.