Company Restructuring Events in Crop Protection Open Door to New Market Opportunities

Derek Oliphant By Derek Oliphant|16 April 2026

Through its history the agrochemical industry has seen a significant level of M&A activity that has resulted in major changes in the structure of the industry. Over time, industry consolidation has been a feature of the sector, involving not only company acquisitions but also the transfer of products and other assets between companies.

Although these M&A events occur on a somewhat continuous basis, there are noticeable periods during which clusters of medium to large scale transactions occur, normally coinciding with downturns in overall industry value.

Two significant periods of M&A and consolidation in recent history have reshaped the agrochemical industry to some extent. The first period was between 2000 and 2002, where M&A activity resulted in major changes within the leading companies in the industry with:

  • BASF acquiring the agrochemical business of American Cyanamid.
  • Syngenta being established through the merger of Zeneca and the agribusiness of Novartis.
  • Bayer acquiring Aventis.
  • Arysta formed through the merger of the agribusinesses of Nichimen and Tomen.
  • The formation of the new Monsanto from the agricultural assets of Pharmacia.
  • Establishment of Nufarm from the agrochemical assets of Fernz.

Throughout the remainder of that decade further consolidation between the leading companies in the sector was relatively limited; however, the period following 2002 through to 2011 was characterized by a large number of product acquisitions. Many of these product acquisitions arose as a requirement of antitrust rulings on industry M&A between companies during 2000-2002 while others were driven by companies following a strategy of focusing on products perceived to offer significant growth and profit potential. Products not meeting individual company requirements to satisfy this strategy were then often divested.

Following these large-scale moves in 2002, a number of medium sized companies, notably MAI (now ADAMA), Nufarm, Cheminova, and United Phosphorus (UPL), were particularly active in product acquisition as well as the purchase of small sized national and regional agrochemical companies. This resulted in these companies gaining significant market share and advancing their overall position within the industry.

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Following this period, while a number of notable transactions took place as outlined below, these moves did not have the same ripple effect throughout the industry as was seen at the turn of the century: It was between 2017 and 2018 when several major moves again reshaped the agrochemical industry:

  • ChemChina acquired MAI and renamed the company Adama.
  • Platform Speciality Products acquired Arysta LifeScience, Agriphar and Chemtura AgroSolutions to create a newly consolidated business operating as Arysta LifeScience.
  • FMC acquired the agrochemical business of Cheminova by FMC.

The key moves in the 2017-2018 period were:

Regulatory approval was a key feature of these transactions with a number of conditions being made for approval of the various acquisitions by several regulatory bodies.

In the case of the DowDuPont merger, Dow was required to divest the company’s Brazilian corn seed business while DuPont had to divest a number of crop protection assets, namely broadleaf herbicides for use on cereals and insecticides for the control of chewing pests, comprising chlorantraniliprole, cyantraniliprole and indoxacarb, and a significant portion of DuPont’s global crop protection R&D capabilities. The divested seed business of Dow was purchased by CITIC Agri Fund while the DuPont crop protection assets were subsequently acquired by FMC.

In turn, regulatory approval for the acquisition of the DuPont agrochemical assets by FMC required FMC to divest part of its European herbicide portfolio, including sulfonylurea herbicides and florasulam used in post emergence control of broadleaved weeds in cereals.

Prior to the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer, both companies had very strong positions in both the crop protection and seed industries. As a result, in order to gain regulatory approval, a relatively significant proportion of Bayer’s businesses had to be divested. As a condition of the approval of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto, Bayer had to divest significant parts of its agrochemical and seed businesses, which included: the global glufosinate ammonium non-selective herbicide business; Bayer’s global vegetables (Nunhems), canola, cotton and soybean seed businesses; the R&D platform for hybrid wheat; the digital farming platform xarvio; seed treatment products sold under the Poncho, VOTiVO, COPeO and ILeVO brands; certain glyphosate herbicides used in industrial applications in Europe; and a number of research projects. BASF agreed to acquire all of Bayer’s divested assets in two transactions valued at €5.9 billion and €1.7 billion. In order to satisfy antitrust requirements related to the purchase of these assets, BASF was required by Canadian regulators to divest its North American Clearfield (imidazolinone tolerance) canola business, including related herbicides: this business subsequently passed to Corteva in 2019.

Regulatory approval of the purchase of Syngenta by ChemChina by some authorities took into account ChemChina’s ownership of Adama. As a result of this, Syngenta and Adama divested a portfolio of over 50 crop protection formulations and more than 260 registrations in Europe to Nufarm for $490 million. Other product divestments required by Syngenta in order to gain regulatory approval for the acquisition by ChemChina included crop protection product lines based on abamectin, chlorothalonil and paraquat in the USA, and certain selective herbicides and contact fungicides in Mexico. All of these assets were acquired by Amvac.

As outlined by the deals above, M&A and consolidation at the top tier of the industry can lead to opportunities for other companies to gain control of certain assets or businesses to boost their own operations. With several of the leading companies in the industry expected to undergo some form of restructuring in the coming year, it can be expected that certain assets or businesses will be disposed of to streamline operations; meet antitrust requirements; or to reduce debt. The key moves expected to take place in the near future include:

  • Syngenta preparing IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is expected to launch in Q4 2026, subject to market conditions.
  • BASF to spin off its Agricultural Solutions business via a minority IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with completion expected in 2027.
  • Corteva to separate its crop protection and seeds businesses into two independent publicly traded companies, with completion expected in the second half of 2026.
  • FMC looking to divest its Indian commercial business, and also exploring other strategic options, including a potential company sale or asset sales.

Prior to these moves, several of these companies have taken steps to streamline their portfolios by divesting business or assets considered to be noncore to their main portfolio or deemed to offer relatively low margins in comparison to alternatives in their respective portfolios. The list below highlights the key asset sales by the leading companies in the industry in recent years:

  • BASF sold its Pentia (mepiquat petaborate) plant regulator to Nufarm Americas.
  • Bayer sold its global flubendiamide business to Tagros Chemicals.
  • Bayer sold the herbicide ethoxysulfuron to Crystal Crop Protection.
  • Bayer sold its acaricide active ingredient spirodiclofen to Gowan.
  • Syngenta sold the global rights to Actellic stored grain insecticides to Envu.
  • Syngenta transferred its pyroquilon business in Japanese markets to Kyoyu Agri.
  • Syngenta sold the global rights to the insecticide active ingredient cyromazine to Gowan.
  • Dow sold its Telone (1,3-dichloropropene) soil fumigation product line to TriCal Soil Solutions.
  • Corteva divested its Kocide (copper hydroxide) fungicide products in Japan to Mitsui & Co.
  • Corteva divested its solo mancozeb fungicide business outside of China, Japan, South Korea, UK, Switzerland, and EU member countries to UPL.
  • Corteva divested its Lannate (methomyl) line of insecticides to TKI.
  • Corteva divested three brands in India to Crystal Crop Protection: Dursban (chlorpyrifos), Predator (chlorpyrifos) and Nurelle-D (chlorpyrifos / cypermethrin).

In addition, Bayer and FMC recently divested their non-crop agrochemical businesses. Bayer sold its Environmental Science Professional business to Cinven in 2022 for a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion, with Bayer stating that the net proceeds from the transaction were to be used to reduce the company’s net financial debt. The divested business now operates as a standalone company branded as Envu. FMC’s Global Specialty Solutions (GSS) included a line of products that serve a mixture of non-crop markets such as golf courses, professional sports stadiums and pest control. The divestiture to Envu reflected FMC’s strategy to focus solely on products and services for the global crop protection market.

As can be seen above, significant acquisition opportunities exist for crop protection companies out with the leading multinationals, particularly during periods of mergers IPOs, or other restructurings, including ripple effects from cost-cuttings, disposal of non-core or low margin products, or anticompetitive regulations.

With the upcoming events expected to finalize in 2026 and 2027, it can be expected that divestitures similar to those outlined above will occur throughout the rest of this year and into 2027. Companies who can take advantage of the availability of such assets from the leading multinationals can benefit from gaining the market share of established businesses, gaining access to proprietary active ingredients, or gaining entry into new crop or country markets.

Derek Oliphant is Co-Founder of AgbioInvestor, a leading consultancy and analytical firm in the agrochemicals, biologicals, and seeds and traits markets. See all author stories here.