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Syngenta says working with ChemChina on long-term deal financing

By Ludwig Burger and Paul Arnold

(Reuters) - Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta (SYNN.S) said that the bridge financing for ChemChina's agreed $43 billion (34.3 billion pounds) takeover had been secured and that it was working with its prospective parent company on longer-term funding of the deal.

"All the bridge financing to close the transaction is in place and irrevocable. In terms of the longer-term financing Syngenta and ChemChina are working together to get the optimal structure in place, that is ongoing," finance chief Mark Patrick told Reuters in a phone interview on Wednesday.

The company is confident that the transaction will get approval from China's ministry of commerce MOFCOM, causing no delay beyond the second quarter, when the merger partners aim to wrap up the deal, Chief Executive Erik Fyrwald said in the interview.

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He added he had been assured there were no talks about merging Chinese state-owned chemical firms Sinochem Group and ChemChina that could disrupt the planned Sino-Swiss deal.

"I speak personally with ChemChina Chairman Ren (Jianxin). We have been repeatedly assured that there are no discussions going on with other parties about any merger in China at this time," Fyrwald said.

Sources told Reuters in October that Sinochem and ChemChina were in discussions about a possible merger to create a chemicals, fertiliser and oil giant with almost $100 billion in annual revenue.

Syngenta earlier said it expects its takeover by ChemChina to close in the second quarter of 2017 as it makes progress in winning regulatory approval for the deal.

(Editing by Michael Shields)