Syngenta could seek partner if unable to make goals

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Syngenta (SYNN.VX) will consider seeking external partners and investors if it finds it is unable to reach its margin and market-share targets for 2018, its finance chief said.

"If we find that we're not able to get to the targeted levels of profitability and market share gains we will consider other options that could be extensive in terms of the range," CFO John Ramsay told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

"That could be alternative business models with partners, potentially JVs, potentially divestment," Ramsay said, adding that this was not Syngenta's immediate priority.

"We're not spending our time putting the cart before the horse. We're going to get a clear understanding of the extent to which we can move the business forward on the strategy and then to see if we want to supplement that," he said.

The Swiss agrichemicals group earlier unveiled plans on Thursday to sell its vegetable seeds business and buy back more than $2 billion (1.31 billion pounds) worth of stock in a campaign to boost shareholder returns after it rejected a takeover approach from Monsanto Co (MON.N).

Ramsay said the business could fetch of 3-6 times annual sales, which were $650 million, and that Syngenta was confident that net proceeds from the divestment would exceed the $2 billion in expenditure from the share buyback.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)