Syngenta gets IPO greenlight from Shanghai Stock Exchange

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Swiss agrichemicals and seeds group Syngenta's initial public offering (IPO) application has passed a review by the listing committee of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, a filing posted on the exchange showed on Friday.

The IPO still needs approval from China's securities regulator before it can go ahead but the greenlight from the exchange marks a first step in what has been a drawn-out process for an expected 65-billion-yuan ($9.14 billion) listing.

Syngenta first tried to list on Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market but switched to the main board of the exchange last month after the bourse canceled a hearing in late March without providing a reason.

Syngenta said it decided to switch focus following China's recent listing rule changes to more clearly define the roles of different boards.

The IPO is expected to be one of the world's biggest this year and to give Syngenta an enterprise value of about $60 billion.

($1 = 7.1104 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong and Dominique Patton in Beijing; editing by Jason Neely)